


the mentor she didn't know she needed

by Loulouche



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015), Wonder Woman (2017)
Genre: Danvers Sisters, F/F, Gen, SuperCorp, Supergirl au, Wonder Woman AU, basically this is Diana mentoring Kara, helping her to grow as a hero but also as a woman, idk where I'm going with it, probably background Sanvers too, strong friendship between Kara and Diana, supercorp au, there will be SuperCorp eventually
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-16
Updated: 2018-02-22
Packaged: 2019-02-15 17:05:07
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 35,666
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13035597
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Loulouche/pseuds/Loulouche
Summary: When she crashes on Earth, Kara is brought to the Danvers by her cousin. But in this universe, the Danvers don't live in Midvale. Instead, their hometown is a little village in the south of France called Carcassonne. After leaving Kara with her new family, Clark flies to Paris. If Kara decides to become a hero in the future, she will need a guide, and who better than Diana Prince, Wonder Woman herself, could be her mentor?AKADiana teaches Kara how to be a hero, but also how to grow as a woman and be happy (and when Lena shows up, Diana teaches Kara how to be a good bi).





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hi everyone!
> 
> So I came up with this idea where the Danvers were living in France and @commanderofcandles helped me with the town (she chose for me clearly). Basically, I just wanted Diana to be Kara's mentor (and friend) and it got out of hands.  
> There will be Supercorp at some point, but I don't know when.  
> I've written only one chapter so far and I have no idea where this is going, so let me know what you think and I'll see if I keep going with this fic.
> 
> English is not my native language so please, let me know if I slaughter grammar and/or spelling (but be tolerant, I'm doing the best I can, I swear).
> 
> Hope you enjoy!

Superman landed softly on the ground and dropped the little girl he was carrying.

“I could have flown, you know.”

He looked at her, unsure.

“Well, you’ve been on Earth for a few days and I’d much prefer if your first attempt at flying wasn’t above the Atlantic Ocean.”

The little girl smiled at him and grabbed his hand when he reached for hers.

Coming out of the house they had landed next to, there were a man and a woman. They both looked nice and had a warm smile on their face while Superman and the little girl were walking to them.

“Hello, Kara.”

The woman had blond hair and blue eyes. Her smile was soft and you could tell how maternal she was just by seeing her.

The man didn’t say anything and just waved his hand at the little girl. His hair was dark, so were his eyes, but they were also very warm and comforting.

Kara barely answered theirs greetings and fought her need to hide behind Superman’s cape. However, she couldn’t help squeezing his hand. He looked at her with a smile.

“Kara, this is Eliza and Jeremiah Danvers. You’re going to stay with them and their daughter.”

At this, the little girl looked around to see if the said daughter was here. This planet was scary to her and being surrounded only by adults didn’t help. She wished there was someone her age around, she would have felt safer. But there was no one except the three people.

Right before focusing back on the conversation, she saw a curtain move at the top floor of the house and caught the sight of a silhouette.

“They helped me with my powers when I was younger and I’m sure they’ll do the same for you.”

Eliza and Jeremiah nodded in agreement.

“This is your home now.”

Kara turned her head to Superman and looked at him with pleading eyes.

“I don’t want to stay here.”

The man stiffened and didn’t manage to hide his embarrassment.

Jeremiah must have noticed Kara’s nervousness, because he didn’t try to come close to her. Instead, he just put an arm around his wife’s shoulders, trying to show the little girl there was nothing to be afraid of.

Superman kneeled to the ground and looked into Kara’s eyes.

“We have already talked about it.”

“I was sent to Earth to protect you!”

“I know, and I’m sure you would have been great at this. But I no longer need your protection. I’m twenty-four and you’re thirteen, I should be the one protecting you.”

"Well protect me then, let me stay me with you instead of pushing me away."

"That's exactly what I am doing. I'm protecting you by finding you a safe place to live."

Kara swallowed down the lump in her throat, her eyes suddenly shiny with tears.

“What am I supposed to do if you don’t need me?”

“Stay here and start a new life with the Danvers.”

“I wanna start a new life with _you_.”

“I know, Kara.”

He let out a loud sigh.

How was he supposed to explain to a young girl who had been sent to another planet on a mission to protect her baby cousin that her help was no longer required? The destruction of Krypton, the loss of her world and family, all this had happened twenty-four years ago, but it had been only a few days ago for Kara.

“Your parents placed a burden on your shoulders, but now this burden is gone. You can live your life the way you want to.”

Kara stayed silent and just stared at him.

“I told you why you can’t live with me in Metropolis. Here on Earth, I’m a hero, which means I’m protecting people and fighting bad guys, but-”

“That’s a good thing.” interrupted Kara.

“Of course. But it means bad guys don’t like me and sometimes, they try to hurt me. It would be too dangerous for you to stay with me. We’ve talked about it, remember?”

Of course she remembered, but that didn’t mean she was happy with his decision of leaving her with complete strangers.

“Your life is here now, Kara. You’re gonna stay in France with your new family.”

“But _you_ are my family, Kal.”

“Yes, and I will always be.” he said, placing a comforting hand on her frail shoulder. “But right now, I can’t take care of you. I’m sorry.”

Kara stared at him with her big blue eyes. He had never seen someone so sad.

“I won’t be there, but I’ll be watching you, I promise.”

Without a warning, Kara fell into his arms and wrapped hers tightly around his neck. She was small, but just like her cousin, the yellow sun of Earth gave her a strength that would have made the greatest athletes jealous.

“ _.ukiemodh w rrip eh_ ”

Superman smiled at this.

“I love you too, Kara.”

After a few more seconds of hugging, he pushed her away gently and stood.

“Be sure that I’ll be here if needed. But with the Danvers, I’m convinced you will have forgotten me soon.”

“I could never!”

“I hope so.” he replied with a wink. “Good bye, Kara.”

The little girl smiled as a response and watched him take off and fly away. As soon as he was gone, she felt her heart drop into her chest and sadness grew on her features.

She was startled when a hand settled on her shoulder. When she turned to face the person that had just touched her, she met Eliza’s eyes. She didn’t know this woman, but just her tender smile was enough to make her feel a little better.

“What do you say we go inside so that you can meet our daughter Alex?”

There was a short hesitation, but then Kara nodded in approval and followed Eliza and Jeremiah into their house.

Up in the sky, Superman was flying to Paris. There was one last person he had to meet before leaving France and heading back to Metropolis.

 

* * *

 

It was late in the afternoon when Diana heard a soft knock at the door. She looked up from the book she was reading. Intrigued, she got up from the couch and went to open the door.

Superman was the last person she was expecting to see. Clark Kent actually, because he was wearing the glasses that were supposed to hide his secret identity. She wasn’t the one to criticize how ridiculous it was though: she didn’t wear a mask as Wonder Woman or glasses as Diana Prince and still, no one hadn’t ever put two and two together.

“Good evening, Diana.”

The woman looked surprised for the split of a second, but then, she stepped to the side without a word and waved for him to come inside. He walked in and she closed the door before leading him to the living room.

“Would you like something to drink?”

“I’m fine, thank you.”

Diana settled on the couch and pointed at the sofa facing it for him to sit.

“It won’t take long. I’d like to be back to Metropolis as soon as possible.” Clark said while sitting on the sofa.

“Whatever you have to say, I’m listening.”

Clark took a deep breath and crossed his hands to explain Diana what had happened in the past couple of days. She listened quietly, never interrupting until he was done.

Once he stopped talking, she looked at him, wonder on her features.

“Why are you telling me all this?”

“I was wondering if maybe, you would keep an eye on Kara. You know, to make sure she’s okay and she’s adjusting well.”

“Wouldn’t it be simpler if the Danvers kept you updated instead of me?”

“I’m already asking of lot from them, I don’t want to bother them more.”

“So you’re bothering me instead?”

“No, that’s not what I meant, I-”

“Relax, I’m just kidding.” she teased with the hint of a smile. “I guess you’re asking me because I’ve been where she is, right? I know what it feels like when you’re discovering a whole new world after losing yours.”

“Yes, that, and I know I can count on you. I would trust you with my life.”

Diana thanked him with a smile, but she stayed silent. She could tell there was something else bothering Clark and it wasn’t long before she had confirmation.

Clark was wringing his hands with such strength that an average human would have broken their own fingers. After a few seconds, he risked a look at Diana.

“Also...” He seemed hesitant. “Maybe she will never want to be like me, but if she ever decides to embrace who she is and to use her powers to help people, she will need someone to guide her. I know you’d be a great mentor for her.”

Diana stared at him with a puzzled look on her face and her brow furrowed.

“I don’t understand. It looks like you’ve planned everything to the last details, but... Why didn’t you keep her with you, Kal-El?”

“Don’t use that name, please. It feels odd.”

There was a second and then she asked:

“That’s how Kara calls you, isn’t it?”

The silence she received as a response told her she was right.

“Clark, she would be happy with you. She could stay with you in Metropolis and you could help her adjust to Earth. I know you don’t really know her, but you’re the last family she has.”

“That is precisely the problem, Diana: I don’t know her. She’s thirteen years old and she talks like we’ve always lived together, but the last time she saw me, I was just a baby. And me? I’ve just met her.”

“You will learn to know her. She’s been through a lot, she will need support from someone she knows she can trust and she will probably need to talk about Krypton.”

“I don’t know anything about Krypton.”

His voice was low but reflected how overwhelmed he was by the whole situation.

“I mean... Yeah, I know things, but I’ve never lived there. She’s spent her whole life on a planet I can’t remember anything about.”

He stopped for a moment and lowered his head before lifting it up again and getting back to his argumentation.

“I’m too young anyway. I can’t take care of her.”

“You won’t be alone. I’m sure Lois would be glad to help.”

“I can’t put that on her. And I can’t afford putting Kara in danger. I’m Superman, it’s not like I can provide her the safest home.”

“At least it would be home.”

“She will have a home with the Danvers. They are good people.”

“I am sure you chose a good family for her and didn’t abandon her to anyone.”

“Furthermore, what if she wants a regular life? She will never have that with me.”

He was rather talking to himself now.

“Clark-”

“Look, I’m not here to discuss the wisdom of my decision.”

“I just want what’s best for her.”

“So do I. Trust me, this, this is what’s best for her.”

He looked at her with confidence and his tone was sure when he talked.

“I’ve made my choice. Now, I need to know if you will watch after Kara or not?”

There was a moment of silence. Diana looked at Clark for a long time before answering in a serious tone.

“I will.”

Clark sighed with relief.

“Thank you.”

“I’m not doing it for you, I’m doing it for her. Since you can’t endorse this responsibility, I will.”

“That’s not-”

“I don’t need justification, Kal-El.”

This time, Clark didn’t say anything at the name.

“I’m not judging you.”

He nodded as gratitude.

“Thank you. For her.”

With that, he stood up and walked to the door, Diana right behind him. There was an awkward silence when he turned to face her.

“I wish I could do things differently.”

“I know.” she assured with a compassionate look.

“I won’t be able to visit her nor stay in touch for her own protection, but let me know if she needs me. For the rest, I trust you.”

“I will let you know if you’re needed here. Until then, go back saving the world, Superman.”

There was the tiniest smile on her lips and Clark smiled back. After a short hesitation, he stepped forward and hugged her.

“Thank you.”

Diana was a bit caught off guard, but she hugged him back.

They parted after a few seconds and Clark left.

Once he was gone, Diana closed the door and got back to the living room. She stopped in front of one of the big windows to look at the Parisian streets.

With a sigh, she thought that she now had a new job besides being Diana Prince and Wonder Woman. A job she would gladly fulfill.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know what you thought. Was it good? Should I keep going? Should I go hide in my basement and never get out again?
> 
> You can find me on tumblr at louloutche, I post about gay stuff and things no one cares about.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kara is Wonder Woman trash and after being forced by Eliza and Jeremiah to go to the beach with Alex, she will probably never say no to the beach ever again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh. Wow. Okay.
> 
> I don't know what to say. I wasn't expecting such a positive feedback on the first chapter. I mean, I only got a few comments, that's not a lot, but let me tell you it's a BIG DEAL for me! I'm very happy that you guys like the concept of this AU.  
> As I said, I'm not really sure where I'm going with it, but as long as I'm inspired, I will write. Since I don't have any frame for the story except what is in the summary, you can shoot me any idea you have and I'll try my best to write them.
> 
> I'm entering my exams week, so I don't know if I'll be posting a lot. But be sure that I'm very happy that you like it and I'm super excited to write more for this AU!
> 
> English is not my native language, I'm sorry if I step on grammar.

The first time Kara heard about Wonder Woman was a week and a half after she got on Earth.

She was still settling in, and television was still one of the biggest mysteries to her. How in the world human hadn’t come up with something more advanced by now? But while she was watching news and wondering if she could craft something herself with the help of Eliza and Jeremiah, maybe something approaching Krypton technology, she was pulled from her thoughts by breaking news.

_“Once again, Wonder Woman saved the day.”_

Kara focused on the woman speaking – announcers were another strange Earth concept to her – and narrowed her eyes. Who was this Wonder Woman?

_“She stopped a train accident that would have caused dozens, if not hundreds of deaths. Some passengers managed to film her with their cellphone, but she left swiftly without giving them a chance to thank her, as usual.”_

Kara heard the front door, but she kept her eyes on the screen. She easily recognized Eliza’s pace and shot her a quick look when she came next to the couch she was sitting on, before getting back to the television.

“Hi, sweetheart. How was your day?”

“Who is Wonder Woman?”

Not receiving any answer, Kara looked at Eliza to find her glaring at her. She suddenly realized how rude she had been.

It was not that she wasn’t well-mannered and her parents hadn’t raised her to always be polite. It was just that a week and a half wasn’t enough to adjust to a new planet and a new culture. Kryptonians shared with humans the habit of greeting each other, but the Danvers were still pretty much strangers to her, and every once in a while, she was a bit rough.

“Sorry. Hi, I had a good day, thank you.”

“That’s better. What is it that you wanted to know?”

“Who is Wonder Woman?”

“Why are you asking me this?”

Kara didn’t say anything. Instead, she pointed at the TV screen where footage captured by the train’s passengers were playing in repeat. Eliza watched it for a moment before returning her attention to the blond girl.

“Let’s say she’s like your cousin, but in France.”

“She’s from Krypton?”

Kara had literally shouted. It was the first time she was showing real joy since she had arrived. Eliza felt bad when she had to take this happiness away from her.

“No, she’s not.”

Kara immediately got back to the nostalgic face she was wearing most of the time. Eliza sat next to her on the couch’s armrest.

“We don’t really know what or who she is, just that she’s been around for a few years now, helping these who need it and saving people. But she always leaves as soon as her job is done and she never talks to the media or anyone, unlike your cousin.”

These details left Kara staring dreamily into the distance.

Eliza looked at her, wondering if she should have said something else. After a short moment, she stood up and just briefly put a comforting hand on her shoulder before leaving the room. She had tried a lot of things to get to Kara, but nothing seemed to work and now she was just improvising. Maybe that was what she should have done from the beginning.

“Alex isn’t back from her soccer training?” she asked while walking to the kitchen.

“Not yet.”

Kara’s eyes were back on the TV screen, but they had stopped talking about Wonder Woman. The channel was now focusing on a kennel giving puppies for free. She found these animals strange, but she also thought they were very cute.

“Can I have a puppy?”

“What was that?”

Kara always forgot that people couldn’t hear her as well as she heard them. She spoke again, louder this time.

“Can we get a puppy?”

“No, we’re not getting a puppy honey, sorry. Jeremiah is allergic to them.”

Kara pouted, even if Eliza wasn’t here to see her.

She heard the door open and a sport bag get dropped to the ground, but Eliza must not have noticed, because she kept talking.

“Alex has asked for years, but she never got one.”

“What have I asked for years?”

“Oh! You’re here, honey.”

Eliza placed a kiss on the head of her daughter when she passed next to her to go to the fridge and take a bottle of water.

“I was telling Kara how you had always wanted a dog.”

“I still do.”

“The answer is still no.”

Alex rolled her eyes and took a sip of her water before leaving. She went to the living room and stopped to throw a wary look at Kara.

“Hey.”

“Hey.”

That was pretty much the only word they had said to each other since Kara had arrived. Their interactions were always awkward and even if they shared a room, they still hadn’t adjusted to each other. However, that day, Alex thought it was time to try and break the ice.

She slumped next to Kara on the couch, causing the blond girl to jump and look at her.

“Sorry.”

She did feel sorry. She hadn’t mean to be so abrupt and she certainly didn’t want to scare her.

“It’s okay.”

Kara didn’t say anything else and went back on focusing on the television. This was the longest conversation they’d ever had.

A few minutes passed, in which Alex took swigs of her water, before she dared to talk again.

“So you want a dog?”

“A puppy” Kara corrected her.

Alex raised her eyebrows.

“That’s the same thing.”

“Really?”

For a second, Alex thought Kara was joking. But then, she saw her shocked face turn to her and she knew she wasn’t.

“Yes, puppies are baby dogs. You didn’t know that?”

She didn’t mean to offense Kara, but the girl suddenly stopped talking and shut down. Usually, Alex wouldn’t have paid much attention to this. But that day, for some reason, she felt bad.

“Hey Kara, it’s okay. I wasn’t making fun of you.”

She had seen kids mocking and bullying Kara at the school a few days ago and she knew well how she must have felt. She had been there before.

“It’s just that…” Kara started shyly. “It’s very confusing.”

“What is confusing?”

“Earth animals. I mean, ponies are tiny horses, but they’re not horses. And now you’re telling me puppies and dogs are the same.”

Alex smiled at that, endeared by Kara’s innocence. For once, she felt smarter than the girl who knew everything about technology and quantum physics at age thirteen. But for once, she chose not to brag about something she knew and Kara didn’t.

She had hated her for coming into her family and stealing all her parents’ attention from her, but she was slowly coming to terms with it. Now, all she saw when she looked at Kara was a scared little girl who had lost everything and was just trying to fit in. As days went by, she felt more and more sympathy for her and if she wanted things to go well between them, she had to put efforts in it.

“You know what? You’re right, this is all very confusing.”

Kara looked surprised when she flashed her a look, but Alex just smiled. After a few seconds, Kara smiled back at her.

Alex thought that maybe, even if it would take time, she could eventually find a real sister in Kara and Kara could find a real sister in her.

 

* * *

 

Kara heard about Wonder Woman from time to time after this. As mysterious as she was, people managed to capture her feats every once in a while and then it was all over the Internet for days. But there wasn’t much.

That’s how Kara ended up spending most of her free time doing research on Wonder Woman.

She would read every article – CatCo Magazine was her best source, they always had good exclusives – every website, every post on social media about her, she would collect as much information as possible to try and understand who she was. She even joined fans forums to chat with people and exchange ideas. As hard as this work was, she would never get tired of it and most of all, she would never abandon.

Years later, while thinking about her youth, Kara would think that it made sense that she had chosen to become a reporter when she had spent hours and hours trying to solve an insoluble mystery.

Because yes, Wonder Woman was actually an insoluble mystery. Nobody had the tiniest clue on who she could be. She staid hidden in the darkness, getting out only if necessary, and when she did, it was in any French city, sometimes even in bordering countries. It looked like she had no precise location.

So little was known about Wonder Woman.

Eliza had said it: unlike Superman, she never talked to anyone.

Nevertheless, Kara never abandoned, she never stopped gathering information about her idol.

Yes, Kara was what kids called a giant nerd or a fangirl, depending on tastes.

 

* * *

 

The first time Kara met Wonder Woman in person would be seared in her memory forever.

This summer was a very hot one, even for the south of France. Kara had been living on Earth for a few months now and the school year had been over for a few days. She had started in the middle of the semester, but catching up hadn’t been really hard for her. There hadn’t been catching up actually. She already knew everything they were told in class and much more. But to fit in and not look any weirder than she already seemed to other students, she had been in seventh grade like she was supposed to be.

There had been a huge forest fire in Spain and Wonder Woman had been there to help with it. She had spent a week on the site, saving many lives, evacuating inhabitants and assisting firefighters. Now the fire was under control and would be completely extinguished soon.

Wonder Woman hadn’t been seen in days. Her help wasn’t needed anymore so she had probably left to go back to wherever she was living.

Kara was sitting on the beach, fully clothed, watching the other kids who were hanging out, playing together. She had insisted she didn’t want to go, but Eliza and Jeremiah hadn’t let her a choice and had asked Alex to take her with her.

Things had become better between Alex and her. It was still a bit awkward sometimes, and Alex didn’t like having her around very much when she was with her friends, but they were slowly learning to know each other. Kara was sure that someday, with efforts coming from both sides, they would share a real complicity. She hoped so.

She didn’t really like going to the beach. Well, she did actually. What she didn’t like however, was going to the beach when there were people. Alex and her parents had taken her there in early spring and they had spent the whole afternoon playing and laughing. It had been just the four of them and she had never felt closer to Alex.

But that day, the beach was full of kids she didn’t want to talk to and who didn’t want to talk to her. They were all having fun while she was just bored. She wished she could play with them, but it was too risky. If she had swum, they might have noticed how fast she was and how long she could hold her breath. If she had played volleyball, she might have knocked someone out when trying to smash the ball. If she had played frisbee she might have broken someone’s hand. She couldn’t even take her clothes off, she was too concerned something would happen just with it.

So she was sitting by herself, far away from the other kids, who clearly didn’t want to have anything to do with her. Or maybe some kids actually wanted to befriend her.

She was lost in her thoughts, playing memories from Krypton in her head, when five of them walked to her. She lifted her head when she heard them and stared at them, surprised. She was about to say ‘hello’ but one of them – the type of boy who thinks he’s better than everybody, especially than girls – talked before her.

“You are the girl who saved the woman and her baby from the car accident?”

Kara was taken off guard by the question. After this accident and her heroic rescue, Jeremiah had given her lead-rimmed glasses to help her with her X-ray vision. This way, she would have one less thing to concentrate on controlling. It did help, but it wasn’t enough.

She was hesitant when she answered. Was he asking in a positive or a negative way? Did he care because he wanted to congratulate her and to mock her?

“Yes, it’s me.”

The boy looked at his friends. They must have been around Kara’s age, or maybe a bit older, but not much.

She quickly had the answers to her previous questions.

“They say you were right next to the car when it exploded and you didn’t have a single scratch.”

Kara didn’t know what to say this time, and she could sense things were about to get out of control. Again.

Every time she talked to people other than the Danvers, one way or another, she ended up being criticized, or stigmatized, or diminished, or insulted. It had always been like this since she had arrived on Earth. Why were people always so mean to her? To her and to some other ones at school who were just as much bullied as her.

The kids started laughing and the boy kept saying things about her, but she no longer listened. She had learnt from experience that the better thing to do in these situations was to stay silent and cut herself from reality until it was over. Her bullies always got bored eventually.

She saw Alex looking in her direction and furrowing her brow. She started walking towards her, probably ready to help her with that like she did every time she witnessed such situation. But before she could reach her, someone was standing between Kara and the kids.

Kara looked up to see if she knew this person, but the backlight prevented her from recognizing them. When she finally did, she stared at the silhouette with her mouth open.

Wonder Woman was standing right in front of her, in full gear, arms crossed from what she could see from the back. Kara couldn’t believe it was true. She must have been dreaming, there was no way Wonder Woman would have been here, saving her from a stupid fight between kids to make it even more unbelievable.

Her brain had stopped functioning a long time ago when her idol spoke.

“The only reason why she didn’t get hurt when the car exploded is because I was there and I protected her.”

The kids were in awe and some other people on the beach were already gathering around the national heroine. The boy who seemed to be the leader of the group was the only one trying to act like he was not impressed, when really he was.

“Nobody saw you that day.”

“You forget how fast I am.”

To illustrate her point, she disappeared from his sight and got behind him in the blink of an eye.

“That’s why no one saw me.”

The boy startled and turned around.

Wonder Woman was now facing Kara, who was by far the most excited of all, even if she couldn’t show it because she was petrified.

Even if the boy heard people starting to whisper and laugh quietly, he tried to act tough.

“So you’re telling me you’ve saved her before? Like, she knows you.”

“Of course she does. I’m one of her friends.”

Not only the boy, but everyone was open-mouthed at this statement. Wonder Woman didn’t seem disturbed in the slightest and she proceeded to lecture the boy.

“Now leave her alone. I’m sure you have better things to do than to bully innocent people who never did anything to you. Instead of talking your friends into wasting time with that, maybe you could talk them into helping others and becoming better humans. I could teach you a thing or two if you want to.”

Her voice was cold and harsh. The boy was no longer showing off. He was hoping she would let him go now, because hearing the small laughs around him was embarrassing enough, but she wasn’t done with him.

“And if by calling her a weirdo you mean that she’s a total badass and you envy her for being so brave, then go on, call her a weirdo.”

At that, most people laughed frankly. The boy glared at them but didn’t dare to say anything. Instead, he just turned around and left with his friends following him.

People tried to get to Wonder Woman, but she didn’t pay attention to them and went directly to Kara.

“Are you alright?”

The girl could barely talk, but it wasn’t from what the boy had said to her.

“Y- Yes.”

“Fine.”

With that, Wonder Woman just turned around and walked away.

Her departure had been so sudden that Kara hadn’t fully processed it. She jumped to her feet and Alex joined her in that exact moment, but she didn’t notice. Taking a deep breath, she shout to her idol before she was out of earshot:

“Thank you!”

She hoped Wonder Woman had heard her, but if she had, she gave no sign of it.

There was a few seconds of silence before Kara turned to Alex, who was looking at her with a smirk on her face.

“So you’re friend with Wonder Woman, uh?”

Kara blushed furiously at the question, even more embarrassed by her teasing tone, and Alex punched her gently on the shoulder with a small laugh.

The rest of the afternoon went on quietly. Kids didn’t invite Kara to come play with them, but at least no one bothered her. She would have been too busy daydreaming about her role model to pay attention to whatever someone would have said to her anyway.

After that, no one ever bullied her again.

Years later, when Kara would have become Supergirl, she would do the same thing Wonder Woman had done for her and help a little girl like she had been helped.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know what you thought about this chapter. Have you liked it? Was it boring? Unnecessary? Too slow? Too fast? Anyway, tell me.
> 
> You can find me on tumblr at louloutche, I post about gay stuff and things no one cares about.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kara arrives in Paris to start her adult life, but on her very first day in the capital, she runs into a rather strange woman.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for all your comments! I read all of them. You can't imagine how happy I am that some people like my story. Thank you guys, you are amazing!  
> I was supposed to work for my exams, but I got inspired and motivated by your kind words, so I wrote a new chapter instead (which I'm probably gonna regret later).
> 
> Hope you'll like this third chapter :)
> 
> English is not my native language, I'm sorry if my writing is terrible.

Paris.

Kara had always dreamed of the City of Lights and now she finally got to live there.

She loved Carcassonne of course, and she had a lot of memories back home – yes she actually considered it home now – but Paris had always been in her mind. So when she had finished university and almost immediately found a job in the capital, she hadn’t hesitated long before taking it.

Working for a media like CatCo, even as an assistant, was another one of her dreams. That made two things that she could now cross out of her bucket list.

She hadn’t find an apartment yet, so she would be staying at Alex’s place until she got her own.

She had just hung up after a long call with Eliza to tell her she was settled down and assure her Alex’s couch would be perfect. Her Kryptonian genes prevented her from muscle aches and soreness anyway, and she tended to fly-sleep so she would probably not even sleep _on_ the couch.

Unpack her clothes and organize them hadn’t taken her long with her super speed. Now it was the middle of the afternoon and Alex wasn’t done with work yet. She had texted Kara she was very busy and would be home late that night, so Kara decided touring the city was the best thing to do.

She changed her casual outfit for something more formal and left her sister’s apartment to walk down the street to go to the nearest subway station.

As a provincial girl freshly arrived to the capital, she was overly excited. Anyone would have been. But it was Kara, and with Kara, any kind of excitement quickly turned into an ‘over the moon’ excitement.

While standing in the subway, she smiled to everyone, which seemed to scare people. They turned away and avoided her gaze. She used to do the same in Carcassonne and no one was freaked out, but clearly things were different here. She had heard Parisians weren’t warm or friendly, but she didn’t think it was true until now.

Her first stop was the Eiffel Tower. She got out of the subway, almost jumping with joy, and followed the crowd outside. Once in the street, she took a look at the large avenue with stars in her eyes. She had already been to Paris twice with the Danvers and she had been mesmerized, but visiting the city as an actual resident was different. It was even better.

Without losing any more time, she headed to the Eiffel Tower. It took her only a few minutes to get to the monument. It was early October and yet, there were tourists everywhere. Even out of tourist season, Paris was never free from them. But maybe it was part of its charm.

Kara walked around for a bit before spotting an ice cream seller. She almost ran to her and asked the biggest cone she could make. The woman had never seen someone so excited about ice cream. Even kids were not that ecstatic.

Kara thanked her warmly and left with her five scoops cone to walk along the Champs de Mars, happier than ever.

All the children that crossed her path looked at her with envy. She didn’t pay attention though, too busy admiring the city and licking her ice cream. That’s only when she heard a little girl who passed right next to her asking her mother for an ice cream that she finally reacted.

“Mom, can I have one?”

“No, I’m sorry honey.”

“Just one scoop, please.”

Her tone was pleading and her mother looked at her with sad eyes.

“You know we can’t afford it. I told you it was complicated since Dad left.”

Kara felt her heart tightening when she saw how sad the little girl was, both about the ice cream and about her father, probably.

Without a second thought, she stopped and walked back to the pair.

“Wait!”

The mother and the daughter both turned around. Kara stopped in front of the little girl and crouched.

“Here, take it. I’ve eaten the biggest part, but there’s some left. I swear I’m not sick and I brush my teeth every day.”

The girl seemed surprised, but after a moment, she reached out to take the cone. She was about to grab it when her mother tugged her away.

“I’m sorry, it’s really nice of you, but we can’t accept. You paid for it, it’s yours.”

“Take it.” Kara insisted. “I’d be happy to share my ice cream with your daughter. There is too much for me anyway.”

It was a lie of course, there was never too much food for Kara. But she would happily lie so that the girl take her ice cream. She turned to her and smiled at her.

“It looks like my eyes were bigger than my stomach.” she said with a wink.

The mother still seemed reluctant, but she gave up when her daughter threw her a pleading look. A big smile appeared on the girl’s face and she took the cone.

“Thank you!”

Kara smiled at that and stood up.

“Thank you very much. I know it’s just an ice cream, but it means a lot.”

“She’s happy, that’s all that matters. Have a good day.”

The girl smiled at her, stains of ice cream on her face, and Kara waved at them and left.

After this good deed – that was actually the most natural thing in the world for Kara – she resumed her city tour.

Her next stop was the Trocadéro, then she passed next to the Museum of Quai Branly and some other museums, admiring the outside architecture, then the Hôtel des Invalides. All these places were marvelous and she was overwhelmed. She would have been satisfied even just with the Parisian streets that looked so beautiful and full of life to her.

She took the subway again and went to the Champs-Elysées. Just like every area in Paris, this one was full of spectacular monuments: the Arc de Triomphe, the Parc Monceau, the Place de la Concorde, the Jardin des Tuileries, museums, and so many other things to see and visit. But she had been walking for a while now and she would have to head back to Alex’s place soon. Well aware that she couldn’t do all these things that day, she decided to go to the Louvre with the little time she had left.

She was making her way through the crowd on the sidewalk when she heard sirens. Police cars drove down the street at high speed and turned to the corner, quickly followed by a fire truck. Kara fought the urge to follow them to help with whatever was going on and kept walking at a reasonable pace.

She was deep in thought when she arrived to the large space where you could see the Louvre Pyramid, which is probably why she didn’t see the woman coming toward her. And the woman didn’t see her either.

They bumped into each other with such energy that they almost got knocked to the ground. A loud ‘ouch’ escaped both of them.

When Kara got her balance back, she looked at the woman and was stunned to see she was on her two feet. How the hell had she managed to resist that collision? Absent-minded as she was, it wasn’t the first time Kara was bumping into someone and usually, the person fell, almost knocked out. But the woman seemed to be completely fine.

The stranger looked as surprised as her. She stared at her with her mouth half-open. For a moment, Kara feared that the woman had the same thought as her and was wondering how she was still standing after the collision. But her worry vanished when the woman spoke.

 “I’m so sorry. I wasn’t looking where I was going and I hit you, I’m sorry.”

“That’s fine, I’m okay. I wasn’t looking either, so I guess we’re both accountable for this.”

They shared a smile and a small laugh, then they went silent.

The more Kara looked at this woman, the more she felt like she had already seen her. Her features seemed familiar to her, like she had known her face for a long time, even if she knew she was meeting her for the very first time.

Intrigued, Kara couldn’t fight the urge to question her.

 “I’m sorry, this will probably sound strange, but… Do I know you?”

The woman looked at her with a smirk.

 “Well, if we’ve met before, I don’t remember that. And I’ve always had a pretty good memory, so…”

“I must be confusing you for someone else, I’m sorry.”

“That’s fine, don’t worry.”

They both fell silent and there was an awkward silence until the stranger spoke again.

“I’m very sorry, but someone’s waiting for me, I got to go.” She indeed looked like she was in a hurry.

“Oh… Y- Yeah!”

Kara had just realized she was waiting like something else would happen or they would start chatting. She fumbled with her glasses like she did every time she was embarrassed. The gesture seemed to amuse the woman, whose smile grew wider.

“Have a good day.”

She left with no other word and Kara returned her greeting with an awkward hand motion.

Once the woman was gone, Kara let out a deep sigh. Angry with herself for making a fool of herself, she changed her plans and decided to go back to Alex’s place without visiting the museum.

She was in the subway, going through her Twitter feed, when she came across a short video. It had been posted by one of the Wonder Woman fan account she followed, so she took her earbuds in her bag right away and watched it.

The footage was showing the heroine stopping a car from hitting another one. The person filming zoomed out, revealing a massive car accident that involved several vehicles: she had prevented it from getting worse. Wonder Woman was then getting people out of their cars and carrying them to the rescue team.

The quality of the video was very low, so Kara assumed it had happened somewhere on a highway. But then, her eyes widened when she saw the video had been posted just minutes ago and the caption said it was happening right now in Paris area. Suddenly, she realized the police officers and firefighters she had seen earlier must have been going there.

She should have followed her instinct and go with them, she had missed an opportunity to see her idol. She thought that maybe, if she stepped out at the next station and flew to the accident – which was probably a bad idea since she hadn’t flown in years – she would be there on time to see Wonder Woman. Maybe she could even help her!

After a moment of reflection, she realized how stupid and childish it was. Wonder Woman was avoiding any type of interaction with people for a reason. Maybe she had a family or people she wanted to protect, thus keeping her identity secret. If Kara had used her powers to take on the superhero role like her, she would have done the same.

She had already had the possibility to see her with her own eyes and even to talk to her, that was more than most people got when they crossed Wonder Woman’s path. Even now, Kara couldn’t believe it had actually happened to her. Anyway, she was lucky that she had been saved by Wonder Woman once – even if it was not a very impressive rescue considering the circumstances – she shouldn’t have wanted more. So she stayed on her sit, even though it was hard not to fidget, and waited until she reached her station.

Alex got home shortly after her. They had dinner and spent the night together, watching a silly movie on TV while eating ice cream, and went to bed early. The next day was one of the most important days of Kara life, she had to be rested for it.

 

* * *

 

That day was Kara’s second day in Paris and her first one at work. She hadn’t slept very well, images of Wonder Woman and of the stranger she had hit turning in her head and mingling together. But she felt good nevertheless. Since she got on Earth, she had never really known what tiredness was. Maybe she was a bit worried though.

She had heard things about Cat Grant, the CEO of CatCo Worldwide Media, and if the rumors were true, she was nothing easy to deal with. Being her assistant wouldn’t be a piece of cake, even for her.

But Kara would have lied if she had said it was the only thing on her mind. Since her encounter with this strange woman the day before, she couldn’t think about anything else. Her mind had come up with strange dreams where she was Wonder Woman and now, she was stuck with this idea in her head.

Her preoccupation and intense reflection must have been showing on her face, because as soon as she stepped on the balcony, Alex shoot her a look and started questioning her.

“What’s bothering you?”

“Who says anything’s bothering me?”

Kara sat down in front of her sister, who stood just enough to poke her right behind the eyebrows before getting back on her chair.

“Crinkle.”

Kara recoiled swiftly at the unexpected touch and furrowed even more.

“Criiinkle. I’m gonna get Botox for that. You think the brilliant bioengineer you are can figure out a way to get a needle under my skin?”

“Kara.”

Alex’s tone was serious and she knew she couldn’t get away with that.

“Fine! I’ll tell you. But first, let me have my morning sugar shot.”

“Like you can have hypoglycemia.”

“Well, thanks to my Kryptonian cells and Earth sun, my metabolism is way faster than yours. So yeah, I can have hypoglycemia way more easily than you. Why do you think I’m eating all the time?”

Kara poured orange juice into her glass and then reloaded her sister’s.

“Okay, you’re right. But you must admit that even without it, the fact that you can’t put on weight and that you merely love food would be enough for you to eat all the time.”

Kara took the baguette and cut almost half of it while nodding.

“Fair enough. I can’t put on weight because of my metabolism though.”

Alex rolled her eyes at the comment but smiled.

Considering how tense her relations were at the beginning, nobody would have bet they would grow so close. While Kara had never called Eliza and Jeremiah her mother and father – they were always her _adoptive_ parents – she saw Alex as her sister. _Just_ her sister.

The Kryptonian took a bite out of her jam-covered bread and closed her eyes in delight. She hadn’t even finished it when she started eating a croissant. Alex was sipping her black coffee and watching her with an amused smile.

“How is it?”

“Delicious!” Kara had spoken with her mouth full and thus spat a bit, but she didn’t mind. “You know, I’m really happy you guys have been living in France and not somewhere else. Do you remember when we went to United States with Eliza and Jeremiah?”

“These fake croissants at the hotel?”

“Yes! I’m still mad that they were calling these croissants.”

“How dare they?” Alex teased with a grin.

“No really, I’m happy that I get to live here, in the country of gastronomy, and not in the US.”

There was a short silence before she added:

“That’s one thing I should thank Clark for, I guess. Living with him in the US, I wouldn’t have had a taste of the worldwide famous French food.”

Alex immediately felt sad for her sister when she heard her voice drop and saw her face go from happiness to hurt.

“Kara…”

“That’s fine, Alex. I’m not mad at him, you know.”

Alex stared at her with a knowing look but didn’t insist.

She knew that no matter how many years had passed since Clark had dropped her at the Danvers’, Kara hadn’t forgotten. But how could she? Being abandoned by the last family you had when you were only thirteen years old wasn’t something easy to forgive and certainly not to forget.

“So about earlier…”

She knew it was one of these times where Kara really didn’t want to talk about it if she was willing to talk about what was bothering her at the moment instead.

“I ran into a woman who looked just like Wonder Woman yesterday.”

Alex raised her eyebrows.

“ _The_ Wonder Woman?”

“Well, last time I checked there was only one.”

Alex felt better when she saw a grin grow on her sister’s face.

“I think your obsession got the best of you. You were probably daydreaming.”

“Yeah I know, this is ridiculous.”

Alex took a sip of her coffee, waiting to see if Kara would add something else, but instead, she looked at her cup with a disgusted frown.

“I don’t know how you can drink that.”

“You need your sugar shot in the morning and I need my caffeine shot, otherwise I can’t achieve anything.”

“But the taste is awful!”

“You get used to it when you don’t have a choice.”

“Well, I’m glad I don’t need that to wake up or stay awake.”

“Trust me, that’s one of the things I envy you the most.”

With that, she stood up.

“Hurry up or you’re gonna be late. I’m not sure this is the best way to make a positive first impression.”

“I can fly to CatCo building if I’m late.”

“No flying!” Alex warned with a finger pointed at Kara.

“I’m just kidding, silly. I’ll be on time, don’t worry about that. I’m not allowed to fly, but I’m still allowed to speed-eat and speed-dress, right?”

“You? Speed-eating? That’s not happening. There’s no way you’re messing a meal up.”

Kara pouted but didn’t reply. It would have been useless, they both knew how true this statement was.

Alex stepped inside her apartment with her cup in one hand and her glass in the other.

“If you’re fast enough, I can drop you at CatCo, it will save you the subway trip.”

At that, Kara decided it was worth hurrying up. She took her time to finish her breakfast, but then she cleared the table, did the dishes, showered and dressed faster than ever.

Fifteen minutes later, the Danvers sisters were leaving the apartment and of course, Kara was the one who had had to wait for her sister.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Looks like someone here is still trash for Wonder Woman even after all these years... I can't blame her though.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's Kara's turn to save the day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is short, but I wanted to publish a little something for Christmas. Hopefully next chapter will be a bit longer.
> 
> Thank you to each and everyone of you for your lovely comments, it's truly important to me.
> 
> Hope you enjoy!

Kara had been working and living in Paris for three years now.

After that day where she had bumped into the woman she had thought to be Wonder Woman, she had never seen her again. Nothing surprising though: Paris was a huge city, there was a very low probability to meet the same person twice.

After a few weeks at CatCo, she had found a routine and her life was an average life now. She did what everyone else did on a daily basis, she had a very normal life, you could almost say a boring life. But she was happy.

She had the job that she had always dreamed of since arrived on Earth, she had a lovely apartment she could call her own, she was living in one of the most beautiful cities in the world, the very same city where her beloved sister was living. Sure, she didn’t have a lot of friends, but Alex and her best friend Winn from work were enough for her.

However, she had a feeling her life was not complete. Something was missing. She didn’t feel useful. Sure, she was happy and a lot of people would have envied her. She should have been satisfied, right?

But it wasn’t enough.

She had already talked about it with Alex, but her answer was always the same: maybe she was waiting for a work promotion, maybe she needed to have someone romantically involved in her life, maybe… She had all sorts of answers. Every time they talked about it, Alex said that sooner or later, Kara would find fulfillment in one form or another.

Yes, her sister had talked about dating before, but it wasn’t really Kara’s thing. Well, it was her thing. She had already felt romantic attraction before, she knew romantic love was something she was able to feel and she needed in her life. But it was hard. Very hard.

Dating humans when you were a Kryptonian was like trying to build a house of cards while wearing boxing gloves. The boxing gloves were actually a pretty good metaphor. Kara had once broken her boyfriend’s nose when she was late for work and had kissed him goodbye in a rush. Another time, she had broken her other boyfriend’s foot when they were dancing together. Every time, the most common couple things turned into a nightmare for her. She needed to have a firm grip on her feelings, emotions and strength at all time, which was really exhausting and led her to be a bit off sometimes. That was one of the reasons why her ex boyfriends had dumped her when she hadn’t been the one ending the relationship.

Yes, dating was definitely a delicate part of Kara’s life. She was twenty five and still learning.

But still, she kept trying. Like right now, while she was having a drink with this guy. He looked nice, even if he had an upsetting tendency to look at his phone every other minute. When he received a call, he barely apologized before leaving the table to answer. But Kara wasn’t a fool. Relying on her super hearing, she spied on him – she didn’t really like doing this, but she needed to know what was so funny that he had laughed every time he had read a text message. When she heard him asking the waitress to give Kara her number and leave, she felt her heart tighten. She clenched her fists and did her best to keep control.

Never mind, this man was probably a jerk if he acted like this on the first date, she was better without him. At least that was what she was trying to tell herself. She sighed and let her head drop into her hands.

She was lightly startled when the waitress came next to her. Strangely, she hadn’t heard her approaching. She was probably too busy wallowing to notice.

“I’m sorry to bother you but… Your friend asked me to do something that I can’t do. He… I’m sorry, it’s really embarrassing. He-“

Kara looked at her with a sad smile.

“Don’t bother, I heard what he said.”

“But…” The waitress was completely taken off guard. “How?”

“It doesn’t matter. Thank you for telling me the truth.”

“Of course.”

“I think I’m gonna go.”

She stood up and put her jacket on.

“Are you sure you want to leave now?”

Kara raised her eyebrows at the question.

“My shift is almost over so if you want to go get a drink, that would be nice.”

Kara stared at the waitress with surprise in her eyes. She was stunned yet happy to see someone so confident in their own sexuality: she was asking her out, not knowing if she was attracted to women and most of all not knowing how she would react. Some people would have been mad at such question, which was ridiculous in Kara’s opinion, but these people existed.

After a few seconds of silence, she finally answered:

“I’m sorry, I’m not into women.”

“Oh. That’s fine, never mind.”

“But thank you, you actually make me feel better. Now I know someone might find something interesting or attracting about me.” She laughed a little, but it was bitter and nervous.

“You know, I would never have done what he did. He’s an asshole.”

Kara was surprised by the word but didn’t say anything. She just smiled awkwardly instead.

“Have a good night.”

“You too. Be safe on your way home.”

Kara turned away and left, but her attention was caught when she heard someone talking loudly somewhere in the bar:

“Hey, turn that up!”

There was worry and concern in this voice. She stopped before reaching the door and went back to see what was going on.

Coming from the television that was screening news, she heard a terrible announcement.

“ _Air France flight 237 bound for Geneva is experiencing some loss of altitude. The pilot seems to be circling the city after an apparent engine failure.”_

Kara froze.

“Did he say Geneva?”

Alex was going to Geneva.

She had dropped by her apartment earlier to help her pick an outfit for this stupid date and now she was in a plane that was about to crash. It couldn’t be true, it was impossible.

“Alex.” It was just a whisper, but it was full of panic and fear.

Kara ran outside of the bar. When she rushed out into the street, a crowd was already forming and everyone was looking at the plane in the sky that was alarmingly low. She took off her glasses and used her X-ray vision: yes, Alex was in the plane.

Kara was completely petrified.

What was she supposed to do? Her sister was about to die and with her, hundreds of people. She had to do something. She was able to do something so she had to.

But she wasn’t supposed to use her powers, she wasn’t supposed to expose herself. She had promised not to. She had promised to Jeremiah, she had promised to Eliza, she had promised to Alex. She couldn’t do that.

But Alex would die if she didn’t.

Suddenly, a new hope was showing up: Wonder Woman would save Alex and everyone else. Wonder Woman would show up and save the day like she always did, she knew that.

But her enthusiasm was short-lived.

What if she didn’t? What if she was already busy somewhere else? What if she couldn’t make it to Paris in time? What if she didn’t even know what was going on? Even if she came, could she save the plane? Superman would have been able to save a plane, he had already done that before, he could fly after all. But Wonder Woman? Sure she was brave and fearless and strong and she could jump high enough to climb a building in one leap, but would it be enough to stop a plane from crashing?

Kara felt her stomach flip with fear and she was hit by realization: she had to do something and she had to do it _now_.

She was the only one able to save everyone at that moment.

She left the big avenue where people would have seen her and ran into a narrow alley. Still running, she took off her jacket and threw it to the side. She accelerated and jumped. Her first leap took her a few feet in the air, but she fell back to the ground. Her second attempt was the good one: this time, she actually took off.

Arms stretched in front of her, fists clenched, wind whipping her face, she was flying higher and higher with every second. Without losing any more time, she went after the plane.

One of the engines was already on fire, but another one exploded. The plane was already very low, but it got worse after that. Kara was doing her best to catch up with the aircraft, she knew she was way faster than it, but she hadn’t flown in so long that she didn’t control it as well as she used to.

She was getting closer when one of the alight engines was ripped of the wing and went right through her way. She instinctively crossed her arms in front of her to protect herself and the engine literally exploded onto her, sending burning fragments in all directions.

On the ground, people were screaming. They were watching the plane going down, helpless and terrified.

Kara’s clothes were burned and torn, but she was fine. Determined to save her sister, she flew as fast as possible and caught the plane’s wing. When she turned her head, she saw her: Alex was looking at her through the window with shock and disbelief on her face. They stared at each other for what seemed to be eternity, and Kara suddenly saw all the memories, good and bad, that she shared with Alex.

She had lost too much already, she could not lose her too.

The only reason why she looked away was to focus back on rescuing the aircraft. But when she did, her attention got caught by a silhouette at the top of a building. She almost forgot how to fly when she recognized the silhouette: Wonder Woman. She was far away from her, but Kara’s vision allowed her to see that the heroine seemed to be as surprised as her.

Kara shook her head. Wonder Woman was here, but that didn’t mean she could do something. If she had been able to help, she would have done it already. What she had thought earlier was still true: catching a plane would be hard for her, if not impossible. Whereas she, as someone able to fly, could do it.

Concentrating on her task, she flew under the plane and started pushing it up. Little by little, she managed to stabilize it. Doing so, she prevented it from crashing into buildings.

She thought her job was done when she saw the Alexandre III Bridge coming her way. Alexandra Danvers’ plane was about to crash on Alexandre III Bridge, really?

The plane was still losing altitude, even if the loss was way slower than previously. Kara couldn’t make it go up in time nor make it land on water without risking to hurt the passengers because of how rushed and rough the collision would be.

There was only one way to save as many people as possible: she had to generate a thrust strong enough to push up the plane short before it would hit the bridge.

She shifted her position to have a better grip on the aircraft and prepared her body for the effort. Only a few seconds before hitting the monument, she pushed up with all the strength she had. The metal bent under pressure and she screamed in pain, but she kept pushing.

Her eyes were closed, but she could see Alex’s face with that look of love and pride.

Her ears were hurting from all the screams coming from the passengers, from the bridge and from all over the city, but she could hear Alex’s voice encouraging her.

Her own heartbeat was erratic, but she could remember how it felt to hear Alex’s calm and steady one when they were side by side on her couch, chatting and eating and watching television on sisters’ nights.

Without fully realizing it, Kara managed to make the plane fly over the bridge that remained intact and untouched.

Once she was on the other side, she let go. She was still holding the aircraft of course, but she let it weigh on her. She did her best to keep her balance after such effort, but she failed. The plane crashed onto the Seine, sliding a bit on the water before ending up into the shore, causing massive damage and frightening unwary pedestrians away.

She emerged and grabbed the plane’s wing to try and pull herself out of water. Once she was standing on the wreck, she felt wind on her face and her soaked body. A smile made its way across her face. It grew wider when she saw a well-known silhouette on the riverbank: Wonder Woman was looking at her with her usual stern expression and something that looked like… pride?

Kara was over the moon. She had flown again after years, she had saved people and she had made it in front of her idol.

But most of all, she had saved Alex.

She threw a look at the plane’s window and saw her sister staring at her. She smiled again and didn’t wait any longer before flying away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was pretty similar to the series pilot's events, except for little personal additions, and it will probably be the same for next chapter.
> 
> I wish you a merry Christmas or a merry anything if you're celebrating something else, and a good day if you don't celebrate anything :)


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kara becomes Supergirl and she meets someone she thought she would never see again.

Kara was sure she had never been happier than she was in that moment.

Sitting on her couch and eating pizza, she was watching television. All over the country, all the media were talking about the same thing: the mysterious woman who had saved a plane in Paris. It had been only hours and some foreign news were already featuring her feat. She was presented everywhere as a “guardian angel”.

That was all she had ever wanted.

She was over the moon.

But her excitement was short-lived as a journalist started talking about her in other terms.

“ _Guardian angel or human wrecking ball? There is destruction all around Alexandre III Bridge._ ”

“What?!”

Kara wasn’t listening anymore. She was truly offended, not to say outraged.

“You try saving a plane for the first time, see if you don’t make a mess.”

She was about to keep going, but the screen froze and she heard a familiar voice.

“Oh my god…”

Kara turned around to find Alex, remote in her hand and panic on her features. Panic that she didn’t notice at all.

“I knooow! It’s incredible!”

She was literally jumping.

She ran to Alex and hugged her, but she quickly let go when she heard her sister’s groan.

“Oh, sorry! That- That was too hard.”

Alex was wincing, but most of all she looked upset. Something Kara didn’t notice either.

“I’m just- I’m so excited! I still can’t believe I did it.”

“Yeah…” Alex threw a look at the TV screen before getting back to Kara. “Neither can I. Are you okay?”

“Me? Am I okay?” Kara couldn’t help thinking this was a stupid question. She was the almost invulnerable alien, Alex was the human that could have died in that plane crash. “Are _you_ okay?”

“Yes, thank you.”

“Were you scared?”

She knew Alex was a tough woman, but who wouldn’t have been scared in such situation? She had almost died after all. Kara had been scared, for sure, and she wasn’t ashamed to admit it.

“I mean, I was scared too.” Kara still hadn’t perceived Alex’s nervousness and impatience while she was brushing her forehead. “But you, you had to be terrified, because you had no idea I was coming to save you.”

After that long ramble, Alex finally got the opportunity to speak.

“I need a drink.”

“Right! Yeah! We need to celebrate!”

Alex had never seen Kara so excited, and that was a lot considering that she had probably been present for all the moments of Kara’s life where she had been the most excited.

Kara passed next to Alex, still oblivious to what was going on. While pouring strong alcohol in a glass, she kept talking.

“It has been so long. I almost forgot how to fly. Well, not so much how, but more how it feels. Like… Scared, but good scared.”

She handed the glass to Alex, who drank it all in one gulp, but once more, she didn’t notice.

“Like that moment right before you kiss someone for the first time. And now… Now it’s like… I’m not sure what comes next.” The rambling was back. “Or maybe I am sure and I’m just afraid of what it means. And if it means what I think it means-”

“What were you thinking?”

Alex’s voice was full of concern, but Kara frowned at the question. The older sister walked to the television and pointed at the frozen image showing Kara on the plane’s wing.

“You exposed yourself. To the world. You’re out there now, Kara. Everyone will know about you and you can’t take that back!”

“I don’t want to.”

Kara was confused. Why was Alex yelling at her? She had saved people and she was happy, what was so bad about it?

“This is what I was talking about, Alex. I’ve always felt the need to help people and tonight, I finally got that chance.”

She stopped for a short moment, trying to collect her thoughts and make her speech clear.

“I didn’t travel two thousand light years just to be an assistant.”

“What if people figure out who you are? _What_ you are? It’s just… It’s not safe for you to do anything like that. Ever again.”

Alex was really worried, Kara could tell she was. But there was something else in her tone. Something that Kara didn’t like.

She thought Alex would be happy for her and proud of her, but it was the opposite. She was trying to shut her down, to convince her to get back to her super normal life now that she had had a taste of what it was to have a superhero life. Wasn’t her sister supposed to support her?

She knew Alex just wanted to protect her, but she had a feeling there was something else. Something Alex didn’t want to tell her. And it hurt.

Her eyes were stinging and her throat was so tight she thought she couldn’t speak, but she miraculously managed to, even if it was barely a whisper.

“I’m kind of tired.”

That was a lie. Kara was never tired. Or maybe she was tired, but it was an emotional tiredness that had suddenly fell upon her and was suffocating her.

“I- I just carried a plane on my back. I’m gonna go to bed.”

She saw tears in Alex’s eyes, but she didn’t feel sorry. It wasn’t fair that her sister was about to cry when she was the one that had just shattered her dreams. She should have been the one crying, not Alex.

Upset to see her sister playing the victim, she chased her tears away and strengthened her voice and expression.

“You should go.”

This time, her tone was harsh.

“Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

That was all Alex said before leaving.

Once she was alone, Kara fought her tears, but they came back and soon, they were flowing down her face.

That night, she cried herself to sleep, hurt by the person she loved the most in the world.

 

* * *

 

When she walked in CatCo building the next day, Kara was extremely nervous. She was mad at Alex, but her sister was right: people could recognize her. It was still a mystery to her how Clark managed to keep his identity secret with just glasses, there was no way it would work for her.

However, no one seemed to act any differently than usual. She had walked on the street, she had crossed CatCo hall and she had been in an elevator full of people, but no one had even looked at her.

She was walking to her desk, with Miss Grant’s latte in her hands, monitoring her surroundings, when she heard a voice coming from behind.

“Oh my god, Kara! You’re a life saver.”

She stiffened and turned around to see one of her coworkers walking towards her. He thanked her for doing something that was supposed to be _his_ job, saying how Cat had said it was great work, but she didn’t pay much attention. She was just relieved it had nothing to do with her recent exploit.

She let out a relieved sigh. She almost had a heart attack.

More nervous than ever, she finally made it to her desk. She politely started a conversation with Winn, but quickly regretted it.

“Pretty cool, uh?”

“A plane saving lady? How is the world supposed to take you seriously when you can’t even come up with a suit?”

Kara stiffened again.

“Metropolis gets him and what does Paris get? Some lowkey superhero?”

Kara felt offended this time.

Apparently, nothing was good enough for anyone in this city. The day before, people were praising her as much as blaming her and now, her best friend, who was crazy about everything related to aliens and paranormal and superheroes, was calling her a “lowkey superhero”.

It wasn’t exactly the best way to start her day.

 

* * *

 

Shortly after was the daily meeting in Cat’s office.

Miss Grant was execrable, nothing unusual except that it was worse than most days. The plane rescue had caught her attention, but CatCo had no exclusive, and that was infuriating to her.

“I know many of you are used to being second best, but it’s new to me.”

Her glasses in her right hand, she walked around her desk to stand in front of her employees.

“The most incredible event in the history of Paris and yet, we have no exclusive of any kind.”

Two employees replied, making comments and trying to give information.

“Her hair is brown.” Said a third one. “Or… Black.”

He must have realized how irrelevant and useless this detail was, because his voice dropped at the end of his sentence.

Suddenly, a new voice was heard:

“Or maybe her hair is just dirty.”

Everyone turned to James, who had just entered the room. He stopped next to Kara, who was looking at him with a certain surprise.

She had met him the day before, when he had just arrived at CatCo. She had to admit she was admiring: he used to work at the Daily Planet, in Metropolis, but he had left everything to join his girlfriend who was in the French military. Kara wasn’t supposed to know all this, but Clark, who was James’ best friend, had told her he was coming and explained the reasons why he had left the United States.

He was good-looking, there was no doubt about it, and the fact that he had given her the first picture he had ever taken of Superman was probably partly responsible for the way she was looking at him every time she saw him.

“You know, from soot.” James continued while he didn’t seem to have noticed Kara staring at him. “The plane’s exhaust.”

Miss Grant kept a stern expression but seemed satisfied.

“James, you’re making an excellent point.”

Kara looked at her with shock in her eyes. That was probably the first time she heard Miss Grant complimenting someone.

“Do you think there’s any connection between this hero and-“

“To my friend in blue?”

Everyone knew James Olsen was close to Superman, this was one of the reasons why he was so famous in this industry, apart from the fact that he was a very good photographer.

“I don’t know.”

This time, there was worry instead of admiration in Kara’s eyes when she looked at him.

“I mean, not that he mentioned, but… If she’s anything like him, she’s a hero. Saving people is what they’re born to do. She’ll be back.”

After that, he looked at Kara. She had been staring at him for the past seconds, but now she couldn’t look back and so she turned away.

“She better be.” Said Miss Grant with a smile. “This girl is the answer. She is _exactly_ what I need to save the Tribune. Besides fatty foods, there is nothing people love more than a hero. We are going to blow her up. We will feature her online and in the paper. But we need images, we need video, we need an interview and exclusive content.”

James was completely calm but next to him, Kara was ecstatic and could barely hide it.

“So go. Go get me that girl.”

All the employees left, including Kara, but she got stopped.

“And Kara?”

She turned to face her boss.

“Go get me a lettuce wrap.”

She nodded and left.

Kara was about to step out of the office when James joined her and walked next to her, relaxed, hands in his pockets.

“That’s funny. That was the first thing he did. Save a plane, I mean.”

He gave her a strange smile and walked away without adding anything else. He was acting strangely, but Kara was too excited to pay attention.

She went to Winn’s desk and didn’t let him say anything.

“Winn, I need to talk to you on the roof.”

“The… roof?”

But Kara was already gone, not bothering to wait for him.

 

* * *

 

A few hours later, they were both at Kara’s apartment with Chinese food. There were thread, needles and textile everywhere, as well as a sewing machine.

“So how is it?” Winn asked. “How does it fit?”

Kara got out of her room dressed in a red shorty and a blue long-sleeved crop top. The red headband was probably the worst part of the outfit.

“I’m not flying around saving people in this thing. I wouldn’t even wear it at the beach. I know I said I wanted a suit as cool as Wonder Woman’s, but it literally looks like you tried to make a cheap modern version of it and just switched the colors. And where is my cape?”

“Capes are lame. Tell your cousin I said so. Actually, never do that.”

“Winn, focus please.”

“Sorry. Yeah, maybe I dived a little too deep into Wonder Woman’s style. I’m sure I can do something better.”

After that, they spent the night designing another suit, something less Wonder Woman-ish and more Superman-ish. They kept blue and red but went for something less quirky. Winn left late with tons of ideas and sketches, promising every superhero on Earth would be jealous of her suit.

The next day, they met at Kara’s place again. Winn had sewn the suit over the night, not sleeping at all, so that Kara could try it.

No headband this time. The shorty had been replaced by a red skirt and her blue long-sleeved top covered her whole abdomen. She stood in front of her friend and took off her glasses to fully embody the heroine she was supposed to be.

Winn got up from the couch. He was mesmerized.

“Kara, you look really pretty without your glasses.”

“Winn.”

She wasn’t mad, just amused by his reaction.

“So!” he sat back in front of his laptop. “To be a superhero, you need a crime. I hacked into the police network. There’s a car chase on the ring-road.”

“I can do a car chase.”

It turned out she couldn’t.

When she was back from her terrible attempt at helping police officers – who ended up catching the guys without her since she crashed into the roadside – Winn was already working on a new prototype. He had barely noticed her return.

“A cape aids with aerodynamic, I should have thought of that.” was everything he had said before getting back to work.

The next day, Kara put on her new suit and Winn sent her in the middle of a bank robbery.

It went pretty well this time. She was wearing ridiculous boots, waiting for Winn to create more stylish ones, but she took down the criminals, confirming at the same time she was actually bulletproof. Unfortunately, it was also the opportunity to discover Winn hadn’t thought about making the suit bulletproof too.

When Kara got back to her apartment and he saw her outfit shredded, he winced and started rambling about how he needed more resistant fabric. Kara easily understood everything he was saying and knew all the complicated chemical names he was using, but she stopped him.

“I’m gonna have a headache if you don’t stop speaking so fast.”

“Sorry.”

She saw how stressed he was about all this and she hated to see him like that.

“Relax, okay? I know you can do it, I trust you. You got this.”

“Y- Yeah, I totally got it.”

“You’re gonna create a new suit for me, and this one will be perfect.”

“Perfect, yeah.”

“But this time: no skirt.”

Winn was about to answer automatically like he had done so far, but he stopped at her with his eyes wide open.

“Wh- What do you mean no skirt?”

Kara rolled her eyes.

“I won’t go bare-legged Winn, don’t worry. I mean I want pants this time.”

“Pants?”

He looked almost offended by this request.

“But you can’t wear pants.”

“Why not? My cousin does.”

“But he’s a man!”

Kara crossed her arms on her chest and glared at Winn.

“So just because I’m a woman, I’m not allowed to wear pants?”

Winn realized how rude he had been and started stuttering.

“Th- That’s not what I meant. It’s just… Y- You’re… Well, female superheroes usually wear skirts.”

“Then I’ll be one of the exceptions.”

“But you said you wanted something resembling Wonder Woman’s suit.”

“I didn’t say I wanted something resembling her suit, I said I wanted something as cool as her suit.”

“Are you sure?”

Kara sighed in exasperation.

“So far, I prevented an airplane crash and I stopped a bank robbery. According to you, which one was the most difficult?”

“The airplane crash, obviously.”

“Exactly! And yet, it almost felt like the bank robbery was harder. Do you know why?”

“Because… You were wearing a skirt when you stopped the burglars?”

“Now, you get it. Wearing a skirt to fight crime is the worst thing ever, I can’t move freely in that thing. So yes, I’m sure I want pants for my suit.”

“That makes sense.”

There was no further discussion and Winn got back to work, determined to create the best suit the world had ever seen and to come up with something satisfying to Kara.

 

* * *

 

Three days later, Kara was faced with a very sleep-deprived Winn at work.

“When was the last time you slept?”

“I don’t know exactly. Twenty-seven hours ago, maybe twenty-eight. But it doesn’t matter.”

Kara looked at the coffee in her friend’s hand with concern, but he didn’t pay attention and kept talking.

“What matters is that it’s done!”

Kara raised her eyebrows at him.

“What are you talking about?”

“The suit!” he shouted while suddenly standing up.

“Shhh!”

Kara looked around, but everyone was focused on their own work. She turned back to Winn, but he didn’t seem to care.

“Your suit is ready.”

“That’s great, but keep it quiet please.”

Winn would have apologized usually, but not this time.

“I can come at your place after work.”

“Yeah, sounds great. I’ll grab something to eat and you can come with the suit. But please, take a nap.”

Winn didn’t really react. He looked just too overwhelmed to feel anything else than excitement at the moment. Kara left him with a tap on his shoulder to go sit at her desk and he dropped onto his own chair with empty eyes. She looked at him briefly before focusing on her tasks for the day.

He was definitely a nerd, but that was one of the reasons why she loved him.

 

* * *

 

As planned, they met at Kara’s place at the end of the afternoon. If possible, Winn seemed even more excited than he was on the morning. He couldn’t stop speaking about how he had spent the night sewing while Kara was in her room to put the new suit on.

“The new suit is made from a structure of polymer composite, it’s much sturdier than-”

When she stepped out and stood in front of Winn, he stopped mid-sentence and stared at her with his mouth open.

“And… This one has the S, for Super, just like your cousin.”

Kara turned to face the mirror and see what she looked like.

“It’s not an S. It’s my family’s coat of arms: the house of El.”

With that, she put her hands on her hips in a pose that would quickly become legendary.

Kara looked completely satisfied and seemed to really love the suit, which made Winn feel incredibly proud. He wasn’t the type to brag, but he actually didn’t think he could come up with something so good.

He was about to say something, but a voice cut him off, announcing a building on fire.

“I’m assuming you can’t catch on fire?”

It sounded like a question, but he was certain she couldn’t.

They shared a smile and Kara left.

She was flying above the city, relying on her super hearing to guide her to the building where there were probably people to save. But as she was hovering towards the said building, she got hit by two strange green darts.

As soon as they touched her, she felt all her strength leave her body. She tried to remain in the air, but she couldn’t fly anymore. Pulled to the ground by gravity, she fell down and crashed onto a car. Laying on the floor after the collision, she heard footsteps but couldn’t identify where they were coming from before passing out.

 

* * *

 

She woke up to an unknown place and an unknown man.

She immediately felt threatened and tried to stand up, but her hands were handcuffed to the table she was laying on. She looked at the glowing green handcuffs and understood why she couldn’t break free: it was the very same material that was in the darts that had hit her. It was kryptonite.

Her thought was confirmed by the man:

“Made of low-grade kryptonite. Radioactive mineral from your home planet. It weakens you.”

Kara was panicking. Where was she? Who was this man? What was he going to do to her? These questions were out of her mouth before she could think of asking.

“Where am I? Who are you?”

“My name is Hank Henshaw. And I believe you already know Agent Danvers.”

Kara looked at him in confusion. She lifted her head and saw her sister walking towards her.

Henshaw stepped to the side and Alex freed her left hand.

“She doesn’t need these.”

She tried to take Kara’s hand in her own, but her sister pulled away. She wanted to say something but never got the opportunity.

“Welcome to the DEO.”

Henshaw had a strong voice.

“The Department of Extranormal Operations.”

Kara shot a look at Alex, who stayed silent even if there was guilt in her eyes.

“The DEO monitors and protects Earth from extraterrestrial presence and or invasion. That means you.”

Kara was angry but also confused.

What was she doing here? She wasn’t a threat. She hadn’t done anything but try to help people so far. And what about Alex? Was she working for the DEO? She thought she was a bioengineer. But her questions would have to wait because apparently, Henshaw wanted to take her visit the facility.

She let Alex free her other limbs, but when her sister tried to put a hand on her shoulder, she quickly got up from the table and escaped her touch to follow Henshaw.

They walked to some sort of hall where there were machines and computers everywhere. People were all busy, working on all types of things, but mostly monitoring computers and managing communications. They stopped in front of something Kara knew well. She had spent twenty-four years inside of it after all.

“Your ship. We keep it here as a reminder of the day you crashed on Earth. You’re the reason for all of this."

“Me? But… My cousin was here two dozen years before me.”

“And it was his arrival that motivated the need for this organization. We realized we weren’t alone in the Universe and there might be some more immigrants. Sure enough, you came along. And with you, Fort Rozz.”

“Fort Rozz?”

“Krypton’s maximum security prison, banished to the Phantom Zone, same place your ship got stuck. But just like yours, it didn’t stay there.”

He took a deep breath before resuming his explanation.

“We’re not sure how your pod got loose. What we do know is this: you pulled Fort Rozz with you. When it crashed, the alien convicts, the worst criminals in the galaxy, they all escaped. And you brought them here.”

He walked to the center of the room and Kara followed him.

“These beings, some of them have terrible powers. For over a decade, they stayed hidden, but in the last year, many have been emerging, making themselves known.”

Alex had followed them and she was standing next to Kara now.

“They’re planning something.” she said with a firm tone. “We’re just not sure what it is yet.”

“Your plane…” Kara was thinking out loud. “That wasn’t an accident, they were trying to kill you.”

She watched the screens displaying pictures of the aliens escaped from Fort Rozz.

“I can help you stop them.”

“How?” Henshaw sounded skeptical. “You couldn’t even stop us from capturing you.”

“I’m still learning.”

“Our job is keeping people in the dark about alien life on Earth and nothing says covered operation like a flying woman in a red skirt.”

“I’m not wearing a skirt anymore.” Kara complained before focusing on the essential. “People know about my cousin, they don’t fear him.”

“Plenty of people do.”

“Like who? Lex Luthor? Everybody knows he’s insane.”

“That’s my point. Some people fear Superman, it’s just not popular to admit it.”

He took files on the central table and looked at her.

“You wanna help? Go back to getting someone’s coffee.”

Kara couldn’t believe he had said that. Was he really attacking her on her job? Of course he was, she shouldn’t have been surprised. As the director of a secret organization, he probably despised a useless assistant like her.

Furious, she turned away and walked towards the exit, wherever that was. Alex threw a look at her boss before following her sister.

“I know you’re mad and you’re hurt. I wanted to tell you every single day.”

Kara stopped and faced her sister.

“Instead, you told me every single day not to be who I really am.”

“You have to listen to me.”

Alex was trying to keep control on her again, just like she always did.

“I can’t! This just kind of feels like one big coincidence, doesn’t it? You working here, hunting down aliens, me being one. I can’t help but think the real reason that you were recruited was because of me.”

That was mean, but Alex had it coming. Kara thought every word she was saying, but she wouldn’t have put it down this way usually. But she was done being nice.

“They recruited me because my background in bioengineering makes me an expert on alien physiology. And yeah, it helps that I shared a bathroom with one.”

Alex’s voice was shaking, revealing an insecurity Kara had almost never seen before and didn’t really know her sister suffered from – after all she didn’t even know she was working for the DEO until that night – but she didn’t care.

“I’m leaving now. Unless you wanna try and stop me. Which I wouldn’t.”

That was unnecessary provocation, but Kara was really mad.

Alex watched her leaving and didn’t try to do anything. Henshaw came next to her, but she didn’t look at him when he talked.

“I know you don’t want to hear it, Agent Danvers, but she’s dangerous. You, of all people, should know that.”

He left her alone, getting back to his work.

He didn’t seem to understand that Alex, of all people, knew Kara was a good person and was only trying to do what she thought was right.

 

* * *

 

The next day had been terrible.

She had almost been fired for yelling at Miss Grant because she had named her Supergirl, James had narrowly saved her, and then she had been lectured by Miss Grant for not taking credit for her work. But all this wasn’t the worst part of her day, far from that.

She was bickering with James about how she didn’t need him to save her – except that she totally did – when one of Fort Rozz’s prisoners had contacted her and ordered her to meet him at the power plant. She had done as told, but the fight had quickly turned to his advantage and had ended in a disaster: she had been hurt, DEO had showed up and she had been saved by them.

Back to the DEO facility, Alex had lectured her again about how unwise she had been. But this time, Kara hadn’t got mad at her. She really seemed worried about her and she had told her Fort Rozz’s convicts were the reason why she didn’t want her to expose herself in the first place. There was still something bothering Kara, even if she couldn’t name it, but at least now she knew her sister wasn’t just trying to control her, she really wanted to protect her.

This conversation had ended up with Kara realizing Alex had been right all along: the world didn’t need her.

Now, she was at her place, thinking about her pointless dream of being a hero like her cousin and most all, like Wonder Woman. Earth had already amazing superheroes like them, no one needed her. She had been stupid for believing otherwise.

Playing with her mother’s necklace, she was thinking about Krypton. She did this every time she felt down, but while most of the time, it helped, this night, it was useless. She should have felt better after all these years she had spent on Earth, but it felt like it was getting worse as time went by.

She felt alone and misunderstood.

She was so deep in reflection that she almost didn’t hear the soft knock on her door.

“Kara, it’s me.”

Alex, of course.

“Can we talk?”

Kara looked at the door and used her X-ray vision to be sure who was at the door, although it was useless.

“I know you can see me.”

Kara stayed silent.

“I know what you’re thinking. That this is all your fault. But it’s not.”

Alex didn’t receive any answer, so she kept talking.

“Before you came to live with us, I was the star. And then… I mean, how- How…”

Her voice was shaking again.

“How could I compete with you, w- with someone who could touch the stars?”

Kara felt her heart tighten at how vulnerable her sister suddenly sounded.

“I was happy when you decided not to use your powers. You know, you feeling like less somehow… made me feel like more.”

Kara could hear the guilt but also the struggle and the insecurity in her voice. She didn’t need to see Alex to know she was on the verge of tears, she could hear it.

“Now, the world needs you to fly, Kara.”

Alex took a step back when the door suddenly opened.

 “I can’t, Alex. I can’t do it.”

“Yeah, you can. Your family believes in you.”

“I know you do.”

It wasn’t completely true. Lately, she had felt like her sister didn’t believe in her, not anymore.

“No, I don’t mean me.”

Kara looked at her, surprised. Alex got something out of her purse and gave it to her sister, who took it in haste.

“That’s kryptonise writing.”

“Hank and his old team recovered it from the pod that brought you to Earth.”

Kara immediately walked inside her apartment and Alex followed her, closing the door behind her. The youngest sister put the Kryptonian artifact on her coffee table and they both stepped back. After a few seconds, it activated and projected a hologram of Kara’s mother.

“Mom…”

Alura was smiling.

“Kara, my brave daughter. By now, you have become the woman I knew you would grow up to be.”

Alex was fidgeting next to her sister. She felt like an intruder in this conversation that seemed way too private for her to hear it. Not knowing what else she should do, she moved closer to Kara and took her hand in hers.

“I know you were sent to Earth to protect young Kal-El, but your destiny is not tied to his. There is no correct path in life. You will lose your way many times. What’s important, is that you find your way back to the brave girl you always were.”

Overwhelmed by the emotion of seeing her mother again after so long, Kara was about to cry, but she was doing her best not to.

“Be wise, be strong, and always be true to yourself.”

Kara let go of Alex’s hand and walked towards her mother. She lifted her hand, but at the exact moment she was about to touch her face, the projection disappeared. She couldn’t control herself any longer and let out a disarming cry.

She didn’t think seeing her mother would be so painful.

Alex didn’t know what to do. She had not seen Kara like this in years. It happened a lot in the first months she had spent on Earth, but when it had become less frequent and then completely stopped, she had thought she would never see her like this again.

She was hesitant when she came closer to her sister and brushed her shoulder, but when Kara turned to her and fell into her arms, she just held her tightly and hugged her. She let her cry as long as she needed, cradling her head in the crook of her neck and whispering soothing words. It went on for several minutes where Kara wasn’t able to do anything except sobbing and repeating how it hurt.

When she pulled away after a long moment, she had composed herself. She looked into Alex’s eyes with a renewed determination and spoke with a firm voice.

“So, what do we do now?”

“First things first: you need to change.”

Kara laughed, probably too loudly for such joke, but she didn’t care. She wiped her tears away and almost ran to her room. In the split of a second, she had her suit on and she was ready to leave for the DEO.

 

* * *

 

After a talk with Hank Henshaw, he had agreed on letting Kara confront Vartox. As she had said, she was the one who had started it, it was only fair that she was the one fighting him.

It hadn’t been easy, far from that, but with Alex endless support and the memory of her mother telling her she was her own person, Kara – or Supergirl, since that was how she was known now – had defeated Vartox. Her sister and she had celebrated her victory at a bar until late that night.

 

* * *

 

The next day, Kara officially announced to Winn that what he insisted on calling the Super Friends were back.

She also discovered that James had known who she was from the beginning. She had no clue. They had a nice chat on the roof of CatCo building, he gave her the blanket in which Kal-El was wrapped when he had left Krypton and told her how proud Clark and he were of her. In that moment, she was feeling like their connection was strengthening.

The only way she could have been happier would have been if she had met Wonder Woman again.

But now, she had one certitude: Paris didn’t have just one hero anymore, now it had her. Now, it had Supergirl.

That night, she was at her apartment, watching television before going to bed. Everyone was talking about her recent victory against Vartox, which made her even prouder than she would have thought.

Suddenly, someone knocked at her door. She swiftly turned, immediately wary. Alex hadn’t told her she would come and now that she knew Fort Rozz’s convicts wanted her dead, she knew she was constantly in danger. But aliens weren’t supposed to know her human identity, right?

She thought maybe it was Winn dropping by unannounced, hence her surprise when she used her X-ray vision and saw another silhouette through the door. A silhouette she didn’t know. But then, she focused on the face and…

No, she must have been dreaming. That was impossible. Why would this woman come to her apartment? First of all, how would she know where she was living?

She got up from the couch and walked to the door. There was a brief hesitation before she opened it. This time, there was no doubt about the visitor’s identity: it was the woman she had bumped into almost three years ago.

She tried to speak, but she ended up stuttering unintelligible sounds. However, the woman didn’t seem disturbed and kept a stern face.

“You’re Kara Danvers?”

Instead of answering, Kara looked at her in awe.

First her apartment, now her name. How did she know all these things about her? Had she been spying on her for the past years? Maybe their first encounter wasn’t even an accident? Or was she becoming paranoid?

The woman didn’t seem discouraged by her silence and apparently, she was considering it a satisfying answer to her question since she introduced herself.

“I am Diana Prince. I need to talk to you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was very similar to 1x01 so I hope you didn't get bored. I promise it won't always be like this. I will stick to the show's storyline and main events for the most part, but I'll try to write something different. Diana is part of the story after all, so things will necessarily be different.
> 
> If you want to know what Kara's suit with pants looks like, you can check out plastic-pipes on tumblr. She does an amazing work, she's incredibly talented and she created alternate outfits for Supergirl but also for other characters from the show such as Alex, Lena and Sam/Reign. I will reblog her stuff under TMSDKSN tag so that you can find it on my blog too.
> 
> As usual, feel free to share your ideas for future chapters, I'd be happy to incorporate them if I can.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kara discovers the real identity of her mysterious visitor and has a conversation with her.
> 
> AKA
> 
> The chapter where nothing happens but which is more or less necessary.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow more than 200 kudos already, I can't believe it! Thank you so much for your support everyone, it means a lot to me!
> 
> Hope you enjoy this chapter :)

“I am Diana Prince. I need to talk to you.”

There were a few seconds of silence and then, Kara finally spoke.

“You’re the woman I bumped into near the Louvre Museum.”

“Yes.”

Kara looked at the woman with suspicion.

“What do you want?”

“I’ve just told you.” said the woman calmly.

“Yeah, I know, you need to talk to me. But you’ll have to be more specific.”

“If you invite me inside, I’ll tell you everything you want and need to know.”

The woman didn’t try to force entry, but Kara didn’t invite her into her apartment nor moved of the way. She stared at her, still wary.

“I don’t know anything about you, why should I let you inside? Maybe you’re one of these new thieves that fool people and attack them once they’re inside their apartment.”

“Trust me, if I wanted to harm you in any way, I would have done it long ago.”

Kara didn’t know if she was supposed to feel better after that.

“I know Clark. I’m a friend of his and I’m here because of him. Well, partly.”

This time, Kara was truly surprised. The mystery surrounding this woman was getting bigger with every minute.

“Will you let me inside now? Or should we talk here, where all your neighbors can hear us… Supergirl?”

As soon as she heard this name, Kara knew she had been right to be careful. One way or another, this woman knew who she really was. Maybe she was an alien from Fort Rozz, maybe she was from the DEO, maybe she was from another secret organization. In any case, she was a threat. So Kara treated her like one.

She formed a fist with her hand and punched as hard as she could. But all she met was air. The woman had easily dodged the blow by moving to the side.

“You definitely have to improve your fighting technique.”

No average human should have been able to dodge a hit coming from her, that was the proof this woman was dangerous. Kara tried to punch her again, but failed. After several attempts, she almost hit her opponent. Almost.

“Better.”

The woman’s expression was still neutral, but somehow, there was the shadow of a smile on her lips.

She had her left arm up, holding Kara’s fist in her hand. She had stopped her blow with her bare hand and doing so, her sleeve had gone up a little, revealing her wrist. Kara’s eyes widened when she saw the bracelet the woman was wearing.

“That’s impossible.”

Kara’s voice had come out in a whisper. She was petrified. She couldn’t get her eyes away from the bracelet.

The woman let go of her hand and her arm weakly fell to her side.

“Now, if you’re done, maybe we can go inside and talk.”

Kara looked at her with wide eyes and it took her several seconds to nod.

She walked inside of her apartment and held the door for her guest. The woman took a look at her surroundings as if she had been estimating the apartment’s value.

“That’s a nice place you have.”

“Th- Thank you.”

The woman turned around and looked at Kara without saying anything else.

“Who- Who did you say you were?”

“Diana Prince.”

“Yeah, right, Diana Prince.”

A small smile made its way on the woman’s face.

“But I guess you want to know who I really am, right?”

Kara didn’t answer. Instead, she just nodded.

“You already know it, don’t you?”

With that, Diana’s smile grew wider and she walked to the couch with no further explanation.

“Can I sit?”

“Yeah, sure.” Kara said in haste. “Make yourself at home.”

Diana sat down onto the couch and crossed her legs with grace.

“Do you want something to drink?”

“No, I’m fine, thank you. But I think _you_ should take a drink.”

Once more, Kara didn’t answer. She swallowed down the lump in her throat and gathered all her courage to come sit on the other couch. She was now facing Diana, who hadn’t stopped looking at her for the past seconds.

“I’m sorry, but… What are you doing here? And how did you know where I was living in the first place?”

“Well, if you don’t try to punch me again, I promise I will answer all your questions.”

Kara blushed at that. She awkwardly tried and failed to apologize for trying to hit her earlier, but Diana raised her hand to stop her.

“That’s alright, you wouldn’t have hurt me anyway. And it’s not like you are able to reach me with your current abilities.”

Now, Kara was sure her whole face was red, possibly her neck too.

“I’ll tell you what I know, try and pull yourself together in the meantime.” Diana teased her, making her flushing even worse. “You can ask me all your questions once I’m done.”

Kara tried her best to compose herself and nodded in agreement.

 

* * *

 

Kara didn’t know how long it had been since Diana had started talking, but when she stopped, it had become hard for her to speak. Kara didn’t bother asking. She got up from the couch, came to the kitchen, filled a glass of water, and came back to give it to her host.

“Thank you.”

Diana drank while Kara was sitting back on the couch.

“I don’t understand… Why didn’t you come sooner?”

Diana finished her water and put her glass down on the coffee table. She didn’t answer right away, she seemed to be thinking. After a moment, she looked at Kara.

“I wanted to be sure you would choose to become a hero for yourself.”

“Being a hero is about helping people, not flattering your ego.”

Diana smiled at the wisdom of these words.

“You’re very right. But you know, you can be biased by the mere fact that someone comes to you and tell you that you could or should use your powers to help others.”

“Especially it this someone is a superhero.”

Diana nodded in approval.

“As you probably know, I was there when you rescued the plane.”

Kara narrowly stopped herself from telling her how happy she had been to see her in that moment, because it meant her idol had seen her accomplishing this heroic act. She had just officially met her, she didn’t want to freak her out by showing her what kind of scary fangirl she was.

Diana didn’t seem to notice her internal strife and kept talking.

“But I wasn’t sure if it was an isolated event or if you really wanted to become a superhero. The answer came in the following days when I saw you starting to use your powers for good.”

There was a small smile on Diana’s face and like on the night Kara had stopped the plane’s crash, there was something else, something resembling pride. Kara shook her head to get back to reality when she noticed Diana was still staring at her, possibly waiting for other questions.

“Why did Clark let me with the Danvers and asked you to watch over me instead of letting me stay with him?”

A hint of sadness appeared on Diana’s features, even if her expression stayed mostly neutral.

“He told me he didn’t want to put you in danger by keeping you with him in Metropolis and he said he was too young to take care of you. But I guess you asked him and he gave you the same motives.”

Kara didn’t say anything, she just nodded and turned away to look out the window. She tried to hide her pain, but the sadness and hurt were stronger and took over her face.

She didn’t realize Diana had stood and joined her until she felt the couch move when she sat next to her. She turned to face the brunette and looked at her with these big blue eyes that were full of sorrow and bitterness in that moment.

“Kara, listen to me.”

The young woman waited for the older one to keep going.

“I don’t know if Clark made the right decision when he chose to let you with the Danvers, I’m not the one to judge. But I am sure of one thing: he loves you and he is proud of you. It’s okay if you resent him for leaving you behind, and maybe someday, you will need to have a conversation with him about that. But you must never doubt that he loves you.”

Kara nodded and sniffed slightly. Now that she had nothing to hide from Diana, she took off her glasses and wiped her eyes from the tears that had formed.

“Plus, don’t forget that you found a sister in Alex.”

Kara was taken off guard by this comment and eyed Diana.

“Don’t worry, I haven’t been spying on you.” she said while raising her hands in defense. “Well, not exactly… I was supposed to keep an eye on you, so I did. I know only what I needed to know to make sure you were alright in your new life. For example, I know that you might have had a crush on Justin Timberlake.”

“How do you know that?!”

It was too late when Kara realized this reaction was a confession.

“I mean… I never had a crush on that guy. Earth singers are lame anyway.”

She forced a mocking laugh, but Diana wasn’t buying it, so she gave up.

“How did you know?”

“I didn’t.”

Now, Kara was really upset with herself: Diana had fooled her.

“For some reason, the vast majority of people from your generation who are attracted to men had or still have a crush on this man, so I assumed you were much likely to be part of these people.”

Kara was about to object, but she stopped and closed her mouth. She crossed her arms on her chest and pouted.

“It might work with Alex, but not with me.”

The Kryptonian looked at her in shock.

“What exactly do you _really_ know about me?”

Diana let out a small laugh and Kara pouted even more.

 

* * *

 

Diana stayed a bit longer and they chatted like old friends would have. For some reason that Kara couldn’t explain, she felt completely at ease with Diana. Maybe it was the non-human thing? In any case, she felt good and safe when she was with her. The only person who had ever made her feel this way was Alex.

It was almost morning when Diana finally left.

“I’m sorry for keeping you up so late.” Kara apologized. “I don’t need much sleep and I tend to forget others do.”

“Don’t worry, I’m just like you on this.”

They shared a smile and then Diana got more serious.

“We should start your training as soon as possible.”

“My training?”

“Do you think I will let you go save the world without a proper teaching on how to fight?”

“Oh… You don’t have to. I guess you have more important things to do.”

“Look. I’m a woman of my word and I intend to keep the promise I made to Clark. But even if I hadn’t accepted his request years ago, I would have helped you anyway.”

“Thank you.”

“Wait before thanking me. You might not be grateful once I have started training you.”

Kara thought she was joking, but her severe expression told her she wasn’t.

She followed Diana when she got up and walked to the door. Right before leaving, the woman turned to her and gave her a card she was probably caring with her in a pocket.

“Call me or text me when you’re ready for your first training session.”

“I’ll do it.”

“Until then, have some rest. You will probably need it.”

Hearing someone who knew she was a Kryptonian say this was quite scary. Kara didn’t return Diana’s slight smile and just nodded goodbye when she left.

However, as soon as Diana was gone, she forgot all about her apprehension and jumped for joy. She ran to the couch and crashed onto it inelegantly with a big smile on her face.

First thing she did was saving Diana’s number in her cellphone.

Second thing she did was calling Alex.

There were two tones before she answered.

“Danvers.”

Her voice was hoarse from sleeping.

“Alex, you won’t believe who just left my apartment.”

“Kara?”

“You should try and guess!”

“Kara, it’s five in the morning.”

“You don’t know? Anyway, I’ll tell you.”

“Kara.”

“Wonder Woman! Wonder Woman was here!”

“Kara, what the hell are you talking about?”

“She was here and we talked and she told me that-“

“KARA!”

The blonde finally stopped talking and what Alex had said struck her.

“Oh my God, I’m so sorry! I didn’t know it was so late! Or early? Anyway, I’m sorry.”

“You should be. I got a call in the middle of the night for an operation, I had been sleeping for an hour when you woke me up.”

“I’m so sorry.” Kara bit her lower lip. “I’m gonna let you sleep, I can tell you tomorrow.”

Alex sighed loudly.

“You might as well tell me now that I’m awake.”

“Are you sure?”

“As excited as you sound, I know you won’t be able to sleep until you tell me, so I’ll sacrifice my sleep so that you get some.”

Kara was ready to start her story but got cut off.

“But please, talk slowly or I won’t be able to keep up, I’m too groggy for your rambling.”

She smiled, amused to see her sister knew her so well. As hard as it was, she did her best to keep a reasonable pace.

It was almost an hour later when she finished her story. At first, Alex hadn’t believed her. Then, when she had given details and explained the whole thing, she had been silent for a long moment, until Kara had called her name to make sure she was still on the phone. There had been a lot of questions following that, some Kara could handle and other ones she had no answer for.

Alex was silent again now, and Kara thought she was done, but apparently, there was one more question.

“You said she wanted to train you?”

“That’s what she said. Why? It seems to bother you.”

Kara knew her sister well enough to recognize her emotions through her voice and at that moment, she was upset.

“You do remember Hank said we needed to test your abilities and that we would train you, right?”

“I can practice at the DEO with you and with Diana too.”

“Hank won’t be happy about that.”

Kara didn’t say anything, but she couldn’t help thinking Alex was the one who was not happy. But then she thought her sister might have been just a bit skeptical, because when she spoke again, her voice was softer and she seemed eager to help.

“I’ll come with you if you want to go talk to him tomorrow after the tests.”

“Thank you.”

Kara heard a yawn.

“You should go back to bed.”

“I’m supposed to be up in less than half an hour, so sleeping now is probably a bad idea.”

“I’m sorry I woke you up.”

“It’s okay Kara, my job at the DEO has gotten me used to short nights. But I will probably need a lot of coffee, so I should get up and make some. I’ll see you tomorrow. Or tonight.”

“See you, bye.”

They both hung up and Kara let out a short snort.

She looked out the window and saw the sky was slowly getting lighter. It was almost half past six, but she needed far less time than most people to get ready in the morning, so she indulged herself and walked to her bed to try and get some sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Most of my chapters are pretty short, but I might make them a bit longer if you wish. Either I update often but chapters are short, or I post longer chapters but the updates will be less frequent. Just tell me what you prefer.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kara makes her debut as a superhero, she learns twice that she needs to train, and a new character shows up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm a bit late, but happy new year to all of you!

Kara landed abruptly on the ground and walked to Hank.

“So? Did I pass?”

As planned, she had been through a battery of tests to make sure she was in full control of her powers.

“I see you share your cousin’s appetite for unwanted destruction, Miss Danvers.”

She had broken the sound barrier during the very last test, but apparently it wasn’t enough for Hank.

“You know, I am starting to answer to Supergirl.”

Alex joined them and made no comment while Hank looked at Kara skeptically. The Kryptonian perceived his annoyance and withdrew.

“It- It’s cool. We’ll find our thing.”

Hank walked away without a word and the two sisters wandered side to side.

“Is this all really necessary? I’m ready, Alex, for all of it. I can do this.”

“Well, believe it or not, he’s just looking out for you. We both are.”

“You know who else is looking out for me? Wonder Woman. And yet, she didn’t talk about testing me.”

Alex didn’t note this observation, but she clenched her jaw.

“I had a full year of training before he even let me in the field.”

“Yeah, training, that’s what I’m talking about! Tests are useless, let’s skip these and start training now.”

“Slow down Kara, you’re going to start training soon enough. We need to take things one step at a time.”

Kara had her arms crossed and didn’t seem pleased. Alex stared at her for a few seconds before relaxing a bit.

“Look, I know you don’t like it, but I’m really glad that you’re here though.”

This time, Kara smiled.

“I hated keeping this whole part of my life from you.”

“Growing up I always thought you were such a bad liar.”

“That’s what a good liar makes you think.” Alex replied with a small smile.

Kara heard a short beep and then Winn’s voice was in her ears.

_“Supergirl, come in. Supergirl?”_

“Winn, what is it? I’m kind of busy right now.”

_“Kara, there is a huge fire raging down the port. It is bad.”_

“Alright, I’m on my way.”

She turned to her sister to tell her what was going on.

“Fire at the port, I gotta go.”

She was about to take off, but Alex stopped her.

“Hey! You have been dodging missiles and pushing your endurance for the last two hours. Even you have your limits.”

“For the last twelve years, I hid who I was. I don’t have to anymore and I don’t wanna waste a minute of it. Besides, this sounds like a job for Supergirl.”

“When will you talk to Hank about training with Wonder Woman?” Alex tried.

“Soon. But right now, duty calls.”

Kara took just one step back before taking off, blowing air in a large radius around her and causing Alex to huff in irritation.

“I’ve already told you not to take off so close to people!”

But Kara was already far away and even with her super hearing, she couldn’t hear her.

 

* * *

 

Supergirl’s intervention at the port was a disaster.

She did manage to save the boat from the flames, thus avoiding the oil cargo to catch on fire and explode, but the said oil ended up spilled into the water. Soon, the bay was black and the competent authorities were called to solve this new problem that had been induced by Supergirl herself while she was trying to help with the first issue.

She had just finished making a mess of the whole situation when she got called by Alex about an attack on a chemical factory that seemed to involve an alien. She flew there right away, eager to flee the port’s turmoil.

She was already at the factory when Hank and Alex arrived.

“What is she doing here?” asked the director of the DEO.

“I called her, sir. We hunt aliens, she is one, it’s a resource we didn’t have before.”

Kara had heard the irritated tone of Hank, but she didn’t say anything when the duo stopped next to her and just tried to make herself useful.

“What can I do to help?”

“Don’t cause any oil spills.”

Alex gave Hank a reproachful look but kept from responding. Instead, she focused on Kara and softened her voice when she saw the hurt in her sister’s eyes.

“Take a look around.” Her voice became a whisper when she added “Don’t touch anything.”

Kara looked sincerely hurt when she left to do as told, but there wasn’t much Alex could do. She had to admit that the most recent events were not helpful to make Hank believe her when she said her alien sister could be a great asset for the DEO.

Alex and Hank started talking while walking away and Kara got back to the victim’s body she was examining earlier. A DEO agent pulled a long spike out of the corpse and eyed it with a strange look on his face. Kara recognized it in an instant.

Now she knew she could actually help.

 

* * *

 

As soon as the agents were done taking samples and Hank had all the information he needed from the factory’s employees, they all got back to the DEO headquarters. Samples were sent to the lab and Hank, Alex and Kara gathered in the command center.

“You’re looking for a Hellgrammite.” said the latter without the slightest hesitation. “That sting that you pulled out, I’ve seen it before on Krypton. My mother sent one of their kind to Fort Rozz.”

Alex started typing on the keyboard to get the information she wanted and Hank looked at the screens in front of him where images and details got displayed.

“According to the data we saved from Fort Rozz, there was a Hellgrammite prisoner.”

“What do we know about this species?”

“Not much.”

Kara didn’t wait to be asked to provide all the information she could remember from her time on Krypton.

“It’s basically a large insect. But he can camouflage himself into any shape he wants, humanoid included.”

“Giant insect trying to steal chemicals to create a bomb. This job never ceases to surprise.”

Hank was now next to Kara. They were both facing the screens with their arms crossed.

“You guys track him down and I’ll take him out, just like we did with Vartox.”

Hank seemed skeptical when he looked at Supergirl with his brows raised.

“Sure, Miss Danvers. If you can prove to us you can handle this alien without getting killed.”

Kara shot him a puzzled look, but she didn’t object when he asked Alex and her to follow him. They strode through several corridors. Kara had no idea where they were going. She had been in the DEO facility only a few times and even with her good memory, it wasn’t enough for her to get familiar with this place that was like a maze.

They walked for a couple minutes before entering a room with a high platform in the middle of it. Hank stopped at the entrance and Kara followed Alex. She had figured out it was a training room, but she didn’t understand why they were here.

“What are we doing here?”

“When I joined the DEO, I spent twelve hours a day for five straight months in this room. We need to know you’re prepared for anything you might face out there.”

They stopped at the other end of the room and Kara turned to face her sister.

“Alex, I can bend steel with my bare hands and last week I kicked Vartox’s butt. I’m ready enough.”

“You really think so?”

Alex sounded doubtful, but Kara was confident and trusted her abilities.

“Yeah, I do.”

Alex punched her in the face without warning and for the first time in her entire life, Kara got thrown to the ground by a human. She fell miserably on the platform and pain irradiated in her nose, making her whine. After a few seconds, she propped herself up on her hands and looked around, confused.

“How did you do that?”

The white light that was illuminating the room dimmed and slowly turned to green. Suddenly, Kara understood what had just happened.

“Kryptonite emitters.”

Alex joined her on the platform and Kara stood up.

“Only eighteen percent. Not enough to permanently harm you, but enough to weaken you and make this a fair fight.”

Without realizing it, Kara copied Alex’s movements and started circling the platform just like her.

“I just found out last week the kryptonite exists. Only the DEO knows it can hurt me.”

Facing each other, they looked like animals about to fight for a territory.

“You may have powers, Kara, but so do most of Fort Rozz’s aliens. Not only do they have the element of surprise, but they’ve also had time to master their abilities.”

While she was speaking, Alex was looking down from time to time. If Kara hadn’t been so upset that her own sister had just hit her after having weakened her on purpose, she would have noticed and see that Alex didn’t want to do this.

“We may not always know who our enemies are, so we need to be prepared to face anyone.”

Alex stopped pacing and put up her guard.

“Now, come at me.”

Kara didn’t wait long before attacking.

Her first attempt was probably the worst of all. She tried to punch Alex, but her sister easily countered her blow, slipped behind her and pushed her in the back. Other attempts followed it, but none of them was convincing and Alex put Kara on the ground two times.

While they were sparring, Alex was trying to provide Kara advice, but her sister wasn’t listening. The Kryptonian knew this training wasn’t really one. The only purpose here was to teach her a lesson, not to make her improve her technique, and this masquerade was driving her crazy.

Angry to get hit and thrown to the ground again and again, Kara lost patience. She ran to Alex with an angry scream and tackled her, but her sister just fell from the platform without actually going down. They both hit the wall, Alex with her back on it, but she easily got rid of her opponent’s grip on her shoulders and took control of the situation.

In the split of a second, Kara ended up facing the wall, Alex holding her two arms in her back, preventing her from moving.

“Alright! Alright, enough. You made your point.”

As soon as Kara acknowledged her defeat, Alex set her free. She deactivated the kryptonite emitters and swallowed down her guilt. She was about to speak, but her sister walked to the exit before she got the opportunity.

“Maybe I’m not DEO material after all.”

Alex heard how bitter Kara was and it broke her heart.

She hated that Hank had made her do that to her own sister. She had refused at first, but her boss hadn’t let her a choice, and she had to admit that he hadn’t been wrong when he had said the lesson would be harder but also more efficient if it came from her. His last words resonated in her head: _“You should be thanking me. You may save your sister’s life by showing her she’s not ready.”_

But still, she hated this whole situation.

Kara glared at Hank when he entered the training room.

“I think I know why my cousin prefers to work alone.”

“Miss Danvers?”

She had passed next to him without stopping, but she turned around to face him when he called her name. This time, she sounded really angry when she talked.

“Now I see what kind of man you are and what methods you use. From now on, I’m gonna rely on Wonder Woman.”

She left without another word, and Hank turned to look at Alex with confusion in his eyes.

“What is she talking about?”

Alex sighed: now she had to explain it all.

 

* * *

 

Kara flew back to CatCo right after leaving the DEO facility. She knew she had to focus on her job, now that she was back to being Kara Danvers, the assistant of Cat Grant, but she had something to do before that.

She pulled her cellphone out of her purse and scrolled through her contact list until reaching the name she was looking for: Diana Prince. She needed only a few seconds to type a text message to ask her if she was free the next morning. Once she was done, she put down her phone.

The answer wasn’t long to come. A few minutes later, when she came back from Cat’s office, she checked her phone and saw she had three unread messages. Two of them were from Alex, which made her sigh in exasperation and ache at the same time. She would read them later, for now, she still needed to calm down. The third message was from Diana. She quickly opened it and a smile formed on her lips when she read: _Hello, Kara. Tomorrow morning works for me. Come rested and ready._

Kara couldn’t help smiling while she typed a short answer. When she put down her cellphone, she knew she was ready to go back to work without any parasitic thought on her mind.

 

* * *

 

The next day, Kara woke up before her alarm rang. She still couldn’t believe she was going to start training with Wonder Woman herself. She got ready even faster than usual and once she had her suit on, it was still too early to go to the meeting point. She settled on the couch and killed time by reviewing Cat’s schedule for the day while watching TV.

When it was finally time for her to leave, she flew straight to the meadow outside of Paris where Diana and she had planned to meet. No one ever came here, they could train without risking to be seen. Much to her surprise, Diana was already there when she arrived. However, she didn’t comment on that.

“Hello.”

“Good morning, Kara.”

The Kryptonian couldn’t help being impressed by how serene and composed Diana seemed to be at all times.

“Ready for your first training?”

“More than ever!” Kara had a big smile on her face while speaking. “I’m super excited, I still can’t believe it’s true. I got to train with Wonder Woman!”

Diana seemed to be amused if her grin was any indication, but she took a serious tone when she called her apprentice to order.

“Kara, can you please focus?”

“Oh yeah, I’m sorry. It’s just-“

“Kara.”

“Sorry.”

Diana’s grin left her face and her expression became more severe and solemn. Her gaze was now intense and you could tell how serious and involved she was.

“We’re going to do it the Amazons way.”

Kara suddenly felt awkward in front of the great warrior she was facing. Supergirl was gone and her confidence had abandoned her. She was left alone before Wonder Woman, with no idea what she meant.

“The- The Amazons way?”

“First round without any advice. I want to know where you’re currently standing and see what are your strengths and your weaknesses. Then, we’ll start to exercise.”

Kara nodded silently.

Diana unbuckled her sword and left it to the side with her lasso. She was unarmed when she put her fists in front of her face in a guard that Kara was sure was perfect, even if her knowledge in this field was very limited.

“Be prepared.”

Her voice was harsh and Kara realized she would have to put her best efforts in this fight. She raised her hands, mimicking her opponent. Diana had told her she couldn’t hurt her, but she was still hesitant.

“I don’t wanna hurt you.”

“Don’t worry about that. I’m a demi-goddess and I’ve beaten your cousin several times.”

Kara felt a knot forming in her stomach and it was suddenly hard to swallow. First, how was she not aware Diana was a demi-goddess? She definitely needed to inquire about her past life and origins later on. But most importantly: she had beaten Clark? Several times? How? She was pretty sure he was the most powerful being on Earth.

She was brought back to reality when Diana spoke loudly.

“Don’t hold back.”

This time, Kara was convinced she had to do as told. Her confidence was back on track and when the wind raised her cape, she felt like a superhero again. She had no illusions: she knew she would probably not be able to touch or even come close to Diana. Nevertheless, she was ready to give her best.

She clenched her fists and the next second, she had covered the distance that separated her from her opponent and was right in front of her. Wonder Woman barely moved when she tried to punch her. She shifted to the side just enough to dodge Supergirl’s blow and when she got back to her initial position, she looked her right in the eyes.

“Is it all that you have?”

She hit back and Supergirl got ejected several meters away. She was on the ground, just like she had been the day before when she was sparring with Alex. The collision had removed the air from her lungs and it took her several seconds to understand what had just happened.

“Get up.”

Wonder Woman’s tone was harsh and her expression was ruthless when Kara raised her head and met her gaze.

With a single thrust, she pushed herself on the air and hovered above the ground for a short second before flying straight to her opponent. Wonder Woman didn’t dodge her kick this time. Instead, she just stopped it with ease.

“You’re too predictable.”

Still holding her foot, she firmed up her grip and threw her to the ground in a single move. Supergirl couldn’t do anything to stop Wonder Woman and her back hit the ground harshly.

As soon as her foot was released, she put her hands on each side of her head and pushed herself up to get back on her feet. She tried and failed again to hit Wonder Woman.

They had been fighting for several minutes now, and Supergirl hadn’t been able to reach Wonder Woman one single time. When asking Diana to train her, Kara thought it would be different from training with Alex. But she was wrong. She didn’t have to worry about hurting her, which was a great advantage for sure, but it was just as frustrating as it had been with Alex.

The yellow sun was supposed to make her a superior being, but she felt completely helpless.

She made one more attempt at hitting Wonder Woman but failed again.

“I told you not to hold back. Is this really the best you can do?”

There was no mockery in Diana’s voice, but her constant comments were infuriating to Kara.

She tried again and missed her opponent for the umpteenth time. Wonder Woman roughly pushed her away with both hands. She stayed on her feet, but the thrust was so powerful that she was dozen meters away when she managed to stop and find her balance.

“Come on! Hit me with your best shot!”

This time, Supergirl was furious.

Her head shot up and her fists clenched. Her feet were firmly settled on the ground and her whole body was tense. All of a sudden, her eyes went bright. A raging scream came out of her throat and then, it was hell on earth.

Wonder Woman was barely surprised: she knew Supergirl would use her heat vision sooner or later. She crossed her arms in front of her to stop the onslaught. The ray got reflected on her bracelets and went up in the air.

The attack stopped as suddenly as it had started. Kara was so shocked by her own rage that she didn’t even think about the possibility of a counterattack. The ray had been reflected, but only partly. Wonder Woman’s bracelets had also absorbed a part of the energy, and that energy was soon returned to its source. Supergirl got blown away by the wave and thrown to the ground.

The fight was over, Wonder Woman knew it. She remained cautious anyway, in case Supergirl would try to strike back, but she was struggling to get back on her feet.

Diana joined her and reached out to her. Kara hesitated, but she took her hand after a few seconds and accepted her help to get up.

“Thank you.”

“You’re strong and you have all these extraordinary powers, but that’s not enough.”

Kara wiped dust and dirt off her suit before stretching her shoulders and back. Training with Wonder Woman was definitely harder than she had thought.

“You’ve got to learn how to control your abilities and use them properly. Most of all, you need to learn how to fight.“

If Alex hadn’t been clear enough the day before, now Kara had learned the lesson.

Diana was about to speak again, but she got cut off by Supergirl when she raised her hand.

“Someone’s coming. Helicopters.”

In one leap, Wonder Woman had caught her sword and lasso, and with another jump, she was back to Supergirl. They were both ready to face anything, but Kara relaxed as soon as she saw three helicopters coming in their direction and recognized the people on board thanks to her X-ray vision.

“It’s okay, these are friends. At least I think they are.”

It wasn’t enough to convince Diana it was safe and she stayed tense.

The first helicopter landed and two people immediately jumped out of it. Alex was in full gear and walking right next to Hank Henshaw, who didn’t even wait to be in front of the two superheroes to start talking.

“Well done. That was a great way to notify Fort Rozz’s prisoners where their enemy is.”

Kara looked at him in confusion and he put his hands on his hips with irritation on his face.

“We were flying here when we saw a light coming from the ground. It was probably visible from kilometers away.”

“How did you know we were here?”

“You have to know, Miss Danvers, that the DEO has monitoring systems and agents all across the country. Plus, Alex told me about Wonder Woman.” He eyed Diana before focusing back on Kara. “We knew it was just a matter of time before you two draw attention to you.”

“And who are you?”

Kara thought Diana’s tone had been harsh before, but she was wrong. _This_ , it was a harsh tone. Yet, it wasn’t enough to impress Hank, but the Kryptonian wasn’t surprised: she had learned that he was unshakeable.

“I’m Hank Henshaw, Director of the Department of Extranormal Operations.”

He stared at Wonder Woman and she stared back. They faced each other for a long moment. The atmosphere was tense and everyone was silent. Kara was worried it would get out of hand at any time and even if Alex looked calm, she could tell by the way she had just swung her weigh on her left leg that she was just as worried as her.

Hank was the one who turned away first.

He looked at Kara and his jaw was clenched when he spoke.

“I had never thought of you as a spoiled child, but you’re one of a kind.”

Kara raised her eyebrows in surprise.

“You were frustrated we didn’t give you what you wanted so asked someone else?”

“No, I just-“

She didn’t have the opportunity to defend herself as he kept talking.

“The reason why I said no to your plan yesterday was because it was a bad plan. If you work for the DEO, then I, as the Director of this organization, have to vouch for you. That means that if I say you’re not ready to go on the field, then you don’t go on the field. These precautions are for the citizens’ safety and also yours.”

Alex came closer to him and tried to stop his ranting.

“Sir, I think she understands.”

Hank didn’t even look at her, he just raised his hand in exasperation to hush her.

“I will decide when I’m done, Agent Danvers, thank you.”

He was about to continue, but Diana had had enough. A scowl darkened her face and she stepped in front of Kara, thus standing between Hank and her.

“Kara told me you had a problem with aliens, but it looks like your problem is with female beings.”

“Yeah, that’s probably why over half of my agents are women.”

“You more than anyone must know that some people call and consider themselves not racist because they have a black friend.”

A complete silence fell.

No one could believe Diana had dared say such thing in the face of Hank Henshaw. But no one knew her – not even Kara who had met her only a few days ago – and they didn’t know what she was capable of when she was angry.

After a moment that seemed to have lasted as long as eternity, Hank spoke.

“You’re not helping Supergirl by supporting and encouraging her recklessness. She must be ready to face her enemies and for this, she needs to be trained.”

“That’s precisely what I’m going to do.”

“She can train at the DEO.”

“I’ve learned to know human kind and I know what you’re trying to do. You’re afraid of what she’s capable of, so you want to cage her to keep her under control.”

Hank suddenly stiffened. It was the first time Kara saw him so tense.

“You’re wrong.” His voice was a growl now. “I want what’s best for her.”

“So do I. I can take of her.”

The confrontation would have probably kept going for a long time if Kara hadn’t interfered. She stepped between them with confidence and raised her voice.

“I can take care of myself.”

Suddenly, all eyes were on her. It took all her self-control not to squirm and to remain upright with her hands on her hips.

“I’m my own person and no one will decide what my best interests are.”

They all seemed surprised to see Kara speaking up, but Diana slightly relaxed, closely imitated by Alex. A small smile grew on their both faces: their trainee and sister was taking charge of her own life and it was for the best.

“I know I need to train, I’ve got it now. But I can choose how I wanna do it and who I wanna do it with.”

Alex couldn’t help but think that Kara had always the strangest ways to phrase her statements. Was she the only one thinking her sentence was very ambiguous and equivocal? But thanks to years of training, her expression remained neutral and didn’t show any of her current thoughts.

Diana took a step back to distance herself from Hank and looked at Kara.

“You’re right. You should be the one deciding what you want to do, I’m sorry for trying to make this decision for you.”

Supergirl cleared up her voice, straightened herself and took a deep breath before speaking.

“I think I should train with both Wonder Woman and the DEO.”

Everybody looked at her with wide eyes.

“Excuse me?”

Kara turned to Hank, who almost seemed offended.

“I’m sure you and your agents have things to teach me and I’m the reason why Fort Rozz’s convicts are out there, so I want to help you deal with them. But Wonder Woman is a great warrior and with her, I won’t need kryptonite emitters or anything, I can fight at full power without risking to hurt her.”

Hank’s face turned skeptical.

“I know she’s powerful and has amazing fighting skills, but Superman and you are the most powerful beings on Earth.”

“She’s already beaten him.”

Hank looked at Wonder Woman. He had his arms crossed and his expression remained stern, but the slight raise of his eyebrows showed a certain surprise.

“I guess you used kryptonite.”

“I didn’t.”

“I’m impressed.”

He did look impressed.

“So what do you say? You think we can work together for Supergirl’s best interests?”

Wonder Woman kept a stern look, but there was teasing in her voice. Kara could tell she held no grudge against Hank despite their earlier altercation, but she wasn’t sure the opposite was true. She looked at the DEO Director with apprehension, waiting for his answer.

“I guess we can find a way to make it work.”

Wonder Woman turned to Supergirl and they shared a content smile. Kara then looked at her sister, who nodded in approval. She made eye contact with Hank and saw how serious and severe he was.

A thought suddenly crossed her mind and she winced at it: now she had three trainers and she wasn’t sure if it was a good thing or not.

 

* * *

 

Once everything was settled, they all parted to get back to their own occupations.

Hank and Alex walked to the helicopter, but Kara grabbed her sister’s wrist to hold her back. Hank didn’t pay them attention and kept walking. The Kryptonian wait for him to be far enough and whispered.

“You didn’t tell him who Wonder Woman was, right?”

“Of course not. You should know I can keep a secret.”

“I trust you.” Kara said when she saw her sister was offended. “I just wanted to be sure.”

“Does she know that I know?” Alex asked in a low voice.

Kara opened her mouth, but another voice answered the question for her.

“I do.”

The two sisters turned to Diana, who was meters away, looking at them with a slight smile.

“Just so you know: my hearing isn’t as good as Kara’s, but it’s better than humans’.”

Alex scowled at Kara.

“You could have told me about that.”

“I didn’t know!”

Diana’s smile grew wider. She was clearly amused by this harmless bickering.

As if she felt Hank’s gaze on her, Alex looked at him and read his impatience on his face.

“I should go. I’m gonna see you later, okay?”

“Get going before he rips your eyes off for making him wait.”

“I can’t hear as well as you, but I can lip-read, Miss Danvers.”

Kara blushed and Alex smiled as she joined her boss on board of the helicopter that took off almost immediately.

Diana and her mentee were left alone. Kara awkwardly turned to the superhero.

“Do you want me to… fly you back to Paris?”

“As much as I’d like to fly with Supergirl someday, I came with my car, so I’m going to drive back to the city.”

There was a short silence before Diana spoke again.

“I guess I will see you soon.”

“Yeah, sure.”

“Try not to hit any bird on your way back, okay?”

Evidently, Diana had already perceived how clumsy she was, which made Kara blush again. Her mentor smiled at her one last time before walking away.

As soon as she was gone, Kara took off and went high in the sky to fly back to the city. It was only a matter of seconds, but it was enough for her to catch on a sound that no one else would have heard.

She didn’t even stop to locate the source when the metallic clatter reached her ears. She hadn’t vast experience in weapons and firearms, but working for the DEO, even just for a few days, had allowed her to know what a gun about to fire sounded like. She flew as fast as possible to the airport and arrived just in time.

The bullet had already left the gun barrel, but it wasn’t too late. Not for Supergirl.

She stopped right in front of the woman who was about to get shot and the bullet bounced on her chest and touched the tarmac with a light clink.

In the split of a second, she saw the man who had just fired. She didn’t need more time to fly to him. She grabbed the gun, tugged it out of his hand and crushed it into pieces, and then punched him just hard enough to knock him out. He fell down in a loud thud.

Everybody was screaming and running confusedly after the gunshot. Supergirl didn’t know if it was a random shooting or a targeted attack, and she didn’t know if the man was alone or had associates. She had to make sure there wasn’t anyone else armed and most of all, she had to protect the person who had almost been killed.

She surveyed the crowd with her X-ray vision and didn’t see any gun or weapon of any sort. Once she was sure there was no more threat, she contacted her partner.

“Winn?”

_“Hearing you loud and clear.”_

“Call the police. A man just tried to kill someone at Roissy-Charles de Gaulle Airport.”

_“Oh my god! Are you alright?”_

He sounded panicked, but Kara appeased him right away.

“Don’t freak out. I’m bulletproof, remember?”

_“Yeah, that’s right.”_

“I took him down. He’s knocked out and he’s no longer a threat.”

_“Okay, I’m calling the police right now.”_

“Thank you. I’m gonna stay with the victim until they’re here.”

_“Good.”_

Kara looked around and quickly spotted the woman she had saved seconds ago. She rushed to her and gently put a hand on her shoulder. The woman jumped and turned to her. She had her eyes wide open and looked terrified.

“It’s okay, you’re safe now.”

“You saved me.”

She seemed to find it hard to believe. Her eyes slowly lowered to Kara’s torso and she stared at the symbol that adorned her suit. She took it in and then looked back up at the superhero with something that could only be described as astonishment.

Kara tried to be comforting when she offered to sit down on a bench nearby. The woman stayed silent and just slightly nodded. She could barely walk, probably because of how shocked she was, and Supergirl almost had to carry her. When she was finally seated, the heroine looked at her more attentively.

Her dark hair was a bit messy, but it was probably because of what had just happened. Kara had noticed how classy her outfit was, and she didn’t doubt she was ordinarily always well-dressed and elegant. She had beautiful green eyes, but they were shadowed by fear and her expression was blank.

Kara put a comforting hand on her shoulder to draw her attention and spoke softly.

“What’s your name?”

It took the woman long seconds to answer with a shaky voice.

“Lena Luthor.”

 

* * *

 

Kara woke up to the sound of media talking about her heroic rescue at the airport. Television, radio, Internet: it was everywhere. Everyone was talking about it. But the way it was approached made her ill. On her way to CatCo, she wasn’t surprised to see that newspapers had took over the story as well, and the headlines were just as bad as the rest.

_“An unexpected turn of events for the Luthor family._

_While Lex Luthor is still in the middle of his trial and has never spoken so vehemently about Superman, yesterday, the cousin of the latter saved Luthor’s younger sister.”_

_“Who would have thought it possible?_

_Superman and Lex Luthor might be enemies, but things seem to be different between their cousin and sister. But are they meant to become allies, or will the younger Luthor carry out a vendetta against the heroine just like her brother did?”_

_“More and more people praise Paris’ newest superhero, but Lex Luthor is certainly not one of them._

_A few days before the next hearing, Lex Luthor must not have been happy when he found out what happened yesterday. Despite everything he’s done against Superman, the cousin of his worst enemy saved his sister’s life when she was about to get shot at Roissy-Charles de Gaulle Airport.”_

Supergirl had saved Lena Luthor, but it seemed to be all about Superman and Lex Luthor. Kara sighed in exasperation and accelerated to avoid seeing more of those.

Every morning, she was used to going through CatCo last online articles when she was in the subway to go to work. What she saw that day made her clench and she almost broke her phone.

_“Supergirl saves Lena Luthor’s life and hits two birds with one stone._

_Not only did Supergirl end the long cycle of hatred between the heroic aliens and the shady family, but she also broke the patriarchal misogynist cliché of rivalry between female important figures.”_

Kara read the whole article and when she finished, she had reached her stop. She stepped out of the subway with a frown. She had mixed feelings towards this article.

She scrolled down to read comments and instantly regretted doing so. There were a few people who complained about the enlightenment brought to this very touchy issue, but most of the users agreed on saying it was a great article. She was so focused on her phone that she didn’t even realized it when she bumped into a man – in her favor, he was walking like he owned the pavement and everybody had to part before him. Considering Kara’s strength, his shoulder would probably ache for a few days. Maybe it would be enough to convince him he had to share public space.

Kara stepped into CatCo as calmly as possible. She greeted Winn, chatted a bit with him, and sat at her desk to start working while she patiently waited for Cat. As soon as she heard the elevator, she stood up. She gave her latte to her boss and followed her into her office as she always did. Cat ranted about how terrible her life was and how stupid people were and as usual, Kara listened to her.

Once the CEO of CatCo was done, she finally stopped her pacing and stared at her employee with a penetrating gaze.

“Whatever is going on in your disturbed mind, you need to get it out.”

Kara swallowed the lump in her throat. She hesitated for a few seconds before speaking.

“I read the last article about Supergirl.”

Cat remained silent and impassive. She didn’t bother speaking and just waved her hand at Kara for her to keep going.

“It’s valuable that you quoted these two women’s name instead of making everything about Lex Luthor and Superman like most media did. But… I don’t know what to think about the article itself.”

Cat looked at her with some sort of disbelief and indifference.

“Am I supposed to care about what my assistant thinks about the articles featured by _my_ magazine?”

Kara had barely listened to her boss and resumed her argumentation, ignoring Cat’s indignation.

“She didn’t know who she was saving!”

The CEO was holding her latte in one hand and put the other on her hip in an annoyed gesture.

“How would you know?”

“Well, um… Everything happened in an instant. Witnesses say it was really quick, so I guess she didn’t have time to see who she was saving.”

“And then? This kind of article makes sales and that’s precisely what we want and need at the present time. Aren’t you the one who told me we had to save the Tribune?”

Kara ignored Cat’s last comment.

“A ‘shady family’? Really? I know Lex Luthor is accountable for what he did, but turning the whole family evil won’t get us more sales.”

“That’s your opinion?”

“Yes.”

“You think people won’t make generalizations based on one of the family members’ acts?”

“Yes.”

“Ha, Kara… Sometimes I don’t know if I find your innocence endearing or pathetic.”

Kara got offended, but she didn’t dare protest.

“If people are not assuming everyone in this family is rotten, why do you think someone tried to kill Lena Luthor?”

Kara was ready to answer, but she only opened her mouth and no sound got out. She was forced to admit Cat was making a good point. It took her a moment to consider it and get her thoughts back on track.

“So we’re gonna play the readers’ game even if it means accusing someone of who-knows-what without tangible evidence?”

“Of course.”

“This magazine is supposed to be about empowering women, not putting them down for no reason!”

“Just because Lena Luthor is a woman, doesn’t mean we won’t treat her like we treat everyone else. She will get the articles she deserves when she deserves them: as soon as she’s proven she’s trustworthy, we will make sure everyone across the country knows it.”

Cat bent down and leaned against her desk on one hand.

“But for now, we need sales.”

Kara remained motionless and speechless, impressed by her boss like she was most of the time. Cat didn’t pay much attention to her silence and handed her sketches and front pages.

“Now bring it to the printing plant and get back to work.”

Kara took the papers but didn’t move. Her boss took a sip from her latte and shot her an insistent look.

“Chop chop.”

She was brought back to reality by Cat’s motto and strode out of the office.

 

* * *

 

Once she had brought her salad to her boss, Kara left the building to meet Alex at Noonan’s and have lunch with her. Her sister was waiting for her when she arrived. She stood up and they shared a hug before both sitting down.

“So you saved the sister of your cousin’s archenemy, uh?”

Kara had called Alex the day before to tell her all about the airport’s events, but she was sure she would mention it.

“Why is everyone insisting on this? I didn’t know who I was saving! I just did what I had to do.”

“Hey, relax, I’m just kidding. You saved a life and that’s a good thing. It’s just ironic that this person was Lena Luthor. What were the odds?”

“It sure was unlikely.”

They took a look at the menu, even if they already knew what they would take, and ordered. While they were waiting, Kara started giving her sister details she couldn’t mention on the phone because Alex had to go back to work.

“Lena and I chatted yesterday while waiting for the police.”

Alex didn’t comment on the fact that Kara was calling the woman by her first name and just listened.

“Apparently, she left Metropolis to distance herself from her family until the end of the trial. She had already been to Paris a couple of times and she liked it, so she came here.”

“I found information about the man who tried to kill her.”

“Why are you working on that case? There’s no alien involved.”

“Well, I’m not working on it.”

“Then how did you get this information?” Kara asked with a frown.

“It comes from the police.”

Kara raised her eyebrows in surprise. She knew her sister, and she could tell there was something she didn’t want to tell her.

“I didn’t know the DEO was collaborating with the police.”

“Well… The DEO is a secret organization, so the police doesn’t know we exist.”

“But how-“

Kara stopped in the middle of her sentence and her eyes widened.

“Oh my God! You hacked the police!”

“Shhh!”

“Alex!”

“Look, I didn’t exactly hack anything. As a high-ranking agent, I’m granted access to the police’s files, so let’s say my eyes just slipped on a case I wasn’t supposed to check.”

Kara crossed her arms and scowled her.

“Stop pretending you’re shocked, you told me Winn did the same thing to help you.”

“But Winn is just a programmer. You’re a federal agent, you can’t do this!”

“Of course I can, and I did. But don’t say anything to Hank, okay? He would kill me.”

Kara wasn’t pleased, but she nodded in agreement.

“I couldn’t resist when you told me about the shooting. You know how I like to solve mysteries and cases.”

“Yeah, I had a taste of it when we were teenagers.”

“Hey, don’t put that on me. You were the one who started investigating on Kenny’s murder.”

“We had to find out the truth, he deserved it.” Kara said with a sudden dark expression.

“I never said he didn’t.”

The conversation had started lightly, but now the atmosphere was heavy. Even if this event had drawn them closer, it wasn’t exactly a good memory, especially for Kara, who had lost her only friend.

Alex cleared her throat and tried to get back to the initial topic.

“Anyway, I came through their files. The man confessed pretty easily. He is a fan of Superman and the police thinks he’s lost his mind. Since he couldn’t reach Lex Luthor, he targeted his sister instead. He works at the airport, so he saw her name when she booked her flight and he knew when she was coming.”

“So it was just an isolated attack?”

“Undoubtedly. It will probably never happen again.”

There was a brief silence and then Alex began to smile.

“It can’t be a coincidence though.”

“What do you mean?”

The Kryptonian was once again concerned.

“Relax, Kara. I’m messing with you again. It’s just ironic that you two met in such circumstances.”

The younger sister considered this statement and simply nodded without saying anything else. The waitress came back with their dishes shortly after and they started eating in silence.

Kara was deep in thought while her fork was going back and forth between her plate and her mouth in mechanical motions. Maybe Alex’s words weren’t so crazy after all. Maybe fate excited and wanted her to meet Lena Luthor in such circumstances.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed!
> 
> This chapter was a bit longer than the previous ones. Let me know if the length was fine for you.  
> You can also notify me if you find any mistake, I'm not a native speaker so there must be a lot.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kara goes to a fancy event, Kara is pissed off, Kara has a big crush on Lena Luthor (what's new), Kara punches aliens, Kara talks with Diana about important stuff. In a nutshell: Kara is slowly but surely growing up and learning to assert herself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone!
> 
> I'm sorry it took me so long to update this fic, but I've been trying to work more regularly for uni lately and I must prepare my future (boring adult stuff is the worst) and I have to catch up on so many shows. Anyway, I've been really busy lately so I couldn't write a lot and time flies by so fast.
> 
> I hope you'll like this chapter :)
> 
> PS: The pic I used as a reference for Kara's outfit will be on my blog under #tmsdksn

Kara‘s breathing was calm and low. She was careful not to be too noisy, or the exercise would be even more difficult. Blindfolded by a lead band, she was deprived of her sight and the only sense she could rely on was her hearing.

The large training room was silent but suddenly, it turned into a mess of noises and various sounds. It was supposed to imitate a city in the middle of the day and if it wasn’t very realistic, it was still very bothering for her sensitive hearing.

She heard Hank’s voice in the speakers.

_“Let’s start.”_

New sounds were added: artificial heartbeats. There were so many and this time, they were very realistic. If Kara hadn’t known these were fake, she would have thought there were actual human beings surrounding her.

She was focused, trying to spot the one sound she needed to hear. Suddenly, she heard a steady heartbeat and she knew it was the one.

She moved to the side right before Diana’s fist hit her face.

“Good.”

From there, her trainer continuously attacked. She used different techniques, shifted her position and her angle, tried to corner her, but Kara valiantly resisted. She got hit a few times, but she dodged or countered most of the onslaughts.

Diana and she had been sparring for minutes when she heard Alex’s voice in her earpiece.

_“Supergirl, there are civilians around you. You must protect them, they can’t be part of the collateral damages.”_

At that exact moment, Kara got hit in the stomach. She let out a gasp and bent down, a hand on her abdomen.

_“Do you hear me?”_

“Yes, but hearing Wonder Woman’s heartbeat in that cacophony is hard enough for you to talk to me.”

 _“We give you instructions and orders when you’re on the field. That’s exactly the same, Miss Danvers.”_ Hank replied.

“I’m not blind when I’m on the field.”

She narrowly dodged a kick that would have ejected her against a wall and possibly destroyed the said wall, but she winced when she heard a metallic sound: apparently, Diana had just decapitated a manikin.

_“A civilian just got killed, Miss Danvers.”_

“I’m well aware.”

_“Make sure there is no more victim, please.”_

Kara had only been defending herself so far. Now, it was time to counterattack.

She clenched her fists and punched. She got stopped, so she tried again with her other hand, but her opponent countered exactly the same way.

She levitated to try and get more strength for her next move. She had already seen her cousin doing this and it had worked. Her head met Diana’s in a formidable head-butt, but the result wasn’t what she expected.

Smashing her head into reinforced concrete wouldn’t have been any different. She had almost gotten knocked out, but she was sure Diana hadn’t moved in the slightest and was still standing. She got confirmation when her opponent threw her across the room.

Kara tried to stabilize herself but couldn’t do anything against Wonder Woman’s strength. She collided with manikins and crashed onto the ground.

_“Three more civilians just died.”_

Kara gritted her teeth. She knew she couldn’t lose her temper, otherwise she would be completely inefficient, but Hank and his infuriating comments were getting on her nerves.

She got back up and heard a muffled swish right in time. She lifted herself in the air not to get swept off her feet again. Now, she had just one second, if not less, to do something.

She had had time to analyze Wonder Woman’s fighting style and patterns over her years of fangirling before actually meeting and knowing her. She knew some of her tricks and she knew exactly the one she had just used. After trying to hit her legs to put her on the ground, Diana was now very low and thanks to her fast heartbeat, Kara could precisely locate her.

She pushed herself straight to her opponent and punched as hard as possible. Her fist hit Diana’s jaw and the latter gasped. Supergirl was taken off guard: it was the first time she heard Diana let out such sound. Had her blow been actually efficient for once? But what shocked her the most was to hear a loud thud.

She immediately took off her lead band and her eyes widened because of the sudden light, but most of all because of what she was met with.

Wonder Woman was laying on the ground.

Diana looked at Kara and their gaze met. She seemed to be just as surprised as her trainee, but she wasn’t mad, quite the opposite. She was proud and satisfied.

After a few seconds, Diana got up and grabbed her jaw to massage it.

“That’s quite a punch you have there.”

Kara got back to reality.

“Oh my God! I’m so sorry!”

“I’m fine, don’t worry.”

Kara was about to apologize again, but Diana spoke before her.

“Well done. Using my vulnerable position against me was smart.”

Wonder Woman turned to the tinted glass behind which Hank and Alex were standing and nodded.

“That’s enough for today.”

The training room’s speakers transmitted Hank’s voice.

_“Next time, make sure that you don’t hurt any civilian while taking down your enemy, Miss Danvers.”_

Kara rolled her eyes and Diana smiled.

The speakers hissed again and this time, it was Alex’s voice.

_“He’s right, but you did a good job. You’ve really improved lately.”_

There was a short silence and when Kara used her X-ray vision, she saw that her sister was checking Hank was gone to add something else:

_“I’m proud of you.”_

Kara tried to remain professional, but she couldn’t hide her smile.

_“Now hurry up. I know you’re fast, but you have to take a shower before getting back to Kara Danvers’ life.”_

Her smile turned into a grin and she saw the same expression on her sister’s face.

“She’s right.” Diana said, drawing Kara’s attention to her. “You have improved a lot in the last three weeks.”

“Well, I have a good teacher.”

“And I have a good student. You’re hardworking and I’m sure that fighting aliens in parallel with your training helps you.”

“Tell that to Hank.”

Diana frowned in incomprehension.

“He says, and I quote, that I’m a ‘flying disaster’ when I’m on the field.”

Her mentor grinned slightly at this.

“Well, he might be a bit extreme. You have never hurt anyone while fighting aliens and criminals after all. But you got to admit you already destroyed several buildings and city properties, as well as a lot of cars.”

Kara winced at the statement. She wished she had been able to argue, but all of this was true.

“I’m gonna try and improve on that specific detail.”

Diana nodded in approval.

They were slowly walking toward the room’s exit when she spoke again.

“I’m going to a vernissage tomorrow night.”

“Oh, that’s great!”

“Would you like to come?”

“Me?”

Kara was sincerely surprised by such invitation.

“Do you see anyone else here I could be talking to?”

Kara blushed and laughed in embarrassment.

“Right, that was stupid.”

Diana smiled, amused by her awkwardness as she always was.

“So?”

“Well, as the curator of the Louvre Museum, I understand why you’re attending that kind of event, but… why me?”

“I am inviting you as a friend.”

Kara stayed silent and stared at Diana.

“Is it because I called you my friend that you got so flustered all of a sudden?” Diana teased her with a smile.

“Yes. I mean no! Well… Maybe. It’s just that I didn’t imagine you thought of me as a friend. I thought I was just a mentee to you, nothing more.”

“It would be true for most people, but not for you. Trust me when I say the lone wolf that I am is not easy to befriend. But with you, it’s different. It might seem strange to you, but I have watched over you for most of your life and in that, I feel like I’ve known you for a long time.”

Kara looked at her with wide eyes and didn’t say anything.

“So, will you come with me?”

The blonde woman shook her head and straightened herself.

“Yeah, sure.”

“Good. I will text you the details tomorrow.”

They exited the training room and Diana walked away. She didn’t stop when Kara called after her.

“What should I wear?”

“Something fancy but comfortable.” Diana turned to face her and walked backwards while speaking. “Make a favor to your feet and don’t wear high heels.”

The woman turned around and disappeared at the next corner, leaving Kara alone to decide what outfit she should choose for the next day.

 

* * *

 

Kara paid the cab driver and got out of the car. She took a look around and noticed most people had their own personal car and private driver. As an assistant, she couldn’t afford this luxury and she felt a bit embarrassed in the middle of some of the wealthiest people in Paris. She did her best to ignore the intrigued gazes she received and headed toward the building.

Once she was inside, she looked for Diana. Her friend had texted her earlier to tell her she had arrived, but she was nowhere to be found. Kara didn’t expect the place to be so crowded and she had difficulties moving between groups of people. After a few minutes, she was about to give up and take off her glasses, but she finally found Diana.

She was talking with a man and a woman who seemed to be a couple, so Kara slowly approached and then kept a distance from them to wait until they would be done. But despite her efforts to remain discreet, Diana quickly turned her head to her. She must have heard her.

“Kara, you’re here.”

She had this slight smile on her face, the one Kara only saw when Diana was talking to her.

“Good evening.”

“Come on.” Diana said with a head movement.

“Don’t worry dear, we don’t bite.”

Kara smiled at the woman who had just spoken and who was smiling too. The man was definitely her husband according to the rings they were both wearing and the way she was holding his arm. They must have been in their sixties. They both looked nice.

Diana introduced them as art lovers and very generous benefactors for many artists and museums, including the Louvre. The four of them chatted for a while and then the couple left to join friends who had just arrived.

Now that they were alone, Kara and Diana turned to each other.

“This outfit is amazing, Kara.”

The young woman sheepishly smiled and tried to hide her blush.

She was wearing a white lace button up shirt and a black suit. She had taken Diana’s advice and instead of high heels, she had picked black derby shoes. Her hair was up in a bun and she was wearing a bit of makeup and dangling earrings.

“Thank you. Yours is great too.”

Diana had chosen a dress. The blue fabric was sleek and fell so low that it partially hid her feet, but Kara guessed she wasn’t wearing high heels either since she didn’t look taller than usual – plus, it would have been ridiculous not to follow her own advice. The dress looked comfortable and it was perfect for the Amazon.

“Have you taken a look around yet?”

“Not really. I thought I would join you first. I don’t know anything about art to be honest, so I was hoping you would be my guide.”

“It would be my pleasure.”

They smiled at each other and Diana led the way to give Kara a tour.

She was talking about a beautiful modern sculpture when Kara’s attention got caught by a familiar face. She had seen this woman only once, but the circumstances had made it easy for her to remember her features.

“I didn’t know Lena Luthor was attending the event.”

Diana swiftly turned and followed her gaze to find the said woman.

“Finally.”

Kara frowned at this comment and looked at Diana.

“Were you waiting for her?”

“She’s the reason why I came.”

Kara looked at the Amazon with wide eyes.

“I thought you were here as the Louvre curator.”

“I am. But when I heard Lena Luthor would come, I thought it would be a perfect opportunity to meet her. I need to know if she’s a threat.”

Kara got a bit upset to hear Diana speak about the woman in these terms.

“Why is everyone so wary and suspicious toward her?” she said with an irritated tone.

“Because she’s a Luthor.”

“It doesn’t mean she’s a bad person.”

“I’ve learned to know to be careful when it comes to the Luthors. You, above all people, should know they’re not to be trusted.”

“She distanced herself from her family for a reason. I’m sure she’s nothing like her brother.”

“I’m supposed to protect people, which means I can’t assume she’s a good person, I need to be sure.”

“You should have told me what you were planning yesterday when you invited me.”

“You always want to see the best in people, so I knew you wouldn’t like this idea. That’s why I didn’t tell you.”

“I see the best in people because there’s good in every one of us.”

“Not all of us. I would know, trust me.”

“It doesn’t change the fact that you should have told me.”

“Look, Kara…”

Diana threw a look at Lena and saw she was about to walk away and get out of sight.

“I promise we’re going to talk about it later. But for now, we have to catch this opportunity.”

Kara looked at her with a severe expression.

“Come on.”

After a few seconds, the blonde woman gave in and followed her mentor, who thanked her with a nod.

The gallery was even more crowded than it had been when Kara had arrived and they had to avoid people to make their way to Lena. When they reached her, she was looking at a painting.

“Good evening, Miss Luthor.”

Lena turned to Diana and looked at her with a frown.

“Good evening. Do I know you?”

“I wish.”

Kara shot a quick look at Diana. She was polite and charming, but it didn’t even seem forced or feigned. It was just impressively natural. Maybe she was like this with everyone, but Kara hadn’t known her for long enough to tell for sure.

Diana offered her hand with a slight smile.

“Diana Prince, curator of the Louvre Museum.”

Lena didn’t hesitate before shaking her hand.

“Nice to meet you, Miss Prince.”

Kara was witnessing this strange dialogue in silence.

“To what do I owe the pleasure?” Lena asked.

“I knew you had been in Paris for a few weeks, but I wasn’t expecting to see you tonight. I’m glad I get the opportunity to meet you though. I hope this isn’t inappropriate.”

“Not at all. I’m just surprised. Most people wouldn’t touch a Luthor with a ten foot pole.”

“This is ridiculous.”

Lena and Diana both turned to Kara and stared at her.

“Sorry. I m- I mean… This is ridiculous to assume you’re… I don’t, but people often say you’re… I…”

She fumbled with her glasses and pushed them up whereas it wasn’t needed. Diana held back an amused smile and came to her rescue.

“Miss Luthor, this is Kara Danvers.”

“Nice to meet you.”

It took a moment for Kara to realize Lena had stretched her arm in front of her. She was so nervous that she almost didn’t control her strength. She restrained herself just in time not to crush the woman’s hand.

“The pleasure is mine.”

God, what was happening? She hadn’t been so flustered at the airport when she had saved her. The adrenaline must have distracted her from Lena’s beauty, and she had to admit her superhero suit always gave her the self-confidence she was usually lacking. But now that she was just Kara Danvers, by herself, in front of the dark-haired woman, she couldn’t find anything to say.

Diana immediately noticed how embarrassed she was and helped her once more.

“Kara is a long-time friend. She works for CatCo Magazine.”

Kara scowled Diana. That was the last thing she wanted Lena to know about her.

“Really?”

“Well, I’m just Cat Grant’s assistant.”

“I wouldn’t have been more impressed if you had told me you were a reporter. I heard she wasn’t exactly easy to work with, even less work _for_.”

Kara let out a sharp laugh.

“Let’s say she’s not the compassionate type.”

“I could tell when I read the article about me.”

Kara briefly closed her eyes and clenched her jaws. It was exactly what she was fearing.

“I am so sorry about that. I tried to talk Miss Grant out of publishing it, but-“

“But Cat Grant is Cat Grant and she always does what she wants to do.”

“Pretty much.”

“She’s stubborn, but this is a quality sometimes: she wouldn’t be here today without it. I really admire her for that.”

 “You do?” Kara asked with wide eyes.

“She accepted an article that wasn’t exactly flattering, but I get why people are wary and I get why Miss Grant did this. Just because she picked a side, it doesn’t mean I see her as an enemy. And it doesn’t mean she can’t change her mind later.”

“You’ve been lucky Supergirl was here to save you.” Diana said in a light voice.

Kara looked at her. Had she intentionally talked about CatCo to come to the airport attack and know Lena’s thought on the subject? She wouldn’t have been surprised.

“I have. Despite what some people say, it’s very fortunate for the city to have her. Wonder Woman was already there of course, but another superhero is not a luxury.”

Diana answered, but suddenly, Kara couldn’t understand what she was saying. She knew that as an Amazon, her friend was able to speak many languages, but she had never heard this one. It sounded like some Nordic language, but she didn’t know which one it was.

At first, Lena seemed surprised as well. But when Diana stopped talking, she answered using the same dialect. They spoke a bit longer and then finally got back to French.

“I knew I had recognized an Irish accent, but I wasn’t sure you would speak Gaelic. Where did you learn?”

Kara was once more witnessing the conversation without being able to take part in it.

“I’m not really a Luthor. I was adopted when I was four. I don’t have a lot of memories from that time, but my adoptive parents told me I had lived in Ireland with my biological mother until she died. I was very young when I went to United States to live with the Luthors, so I lost my accent. But we came back to Ireland later and spent a few years there. I’ve never lost my accent since then. No matter which language I’m talking, it’s always perceptible.”

Kara had been silent at first, but now, she was mesmerized and curious.

“I had never heard Gaelic before. This is so beautiful! Did you learn it with your mother?”

Lena turned to her with a smile. She seemed elated that someone was asking about this particular ability of hers.

“According to my parents, I learned it with her. Even if I kept using it after I started living with them, I slowly forgot it. But when we got back to Ireland, I quickly caught up.”

“This is amazing!”

They shared a smile and a gaze. Lena was the first one to look away and when she did, Kara realized they had stared at each other for a long moment.

“What about you, Miss Prince? How did you learn Gaelic?”

Diana opened her mouth and Kara was sure she had an answer ready. She, as the oblivious person she was, would have been able to reveal such thing and realize afterwards that she should have thought before acting, but her friend was nothing like her. Diana was always in control of the situation, always composed and calm.

However, she never got to justify this strange skill.

Screams coming from the gallery’s entrance were suddenly heard and the three of them as well as all the guests turned their head in that direction.

Six armed people had just walked in. Two of them blocked the door with metal sticks taken from one of the pieces of the exhibition, three others pointed their guns at guests and the last one, who seemed to be the leader, spoke up.

“Listen up, people. We don’t want to hurt you. Everything is going to be okay as long as you cooperate.”

The whole gallery fell silent.

“We want Supergirl and you’re going to help us get her here.”

Whispers were heard, but they didn’t last long. The leader suddenly pointed her gun at the ceiling and fired warning shots. People fell down to the ground and instinctively protected their head while some of them were crying out in fear.

“Alright. I said didn’t want to hurt you, but I hate unnecessary noise, so please stay calm and quiet.”

One of the terrorists stepped closer to the leader and said something into her ear. She nodded and then focused back on hostages.

“It’s your lucky day. The police is on its way, so Supergirl should be here at any moment. However, I will have to kill one of you if she doesn’t show up in the ten next minutes.”

Other cries were heard, but they were fainter this time.

Kara looked at Diana and spoke as low as possible.

“What do we do?”

“We wait.”

“What?”

“We can’t risk anything right now. We have to wait for the right moment.”

“These people are going to die if I don’t-“

They got interrupted by Lena.

“Don’t worry. I’m sure Supergirl won’t let anything happen to us.”

Diana nodded in approval, but Kara remained silent.

They did as told by the terrorists and waited in silence. The police arrived a few minutes later and started negotiating, but the terrorists didn’t answer. They didn’t want money or an arrangement for some political issue. They wanted someone that the police couldn’t give them, someone Kara could bring them. But Diana had told her to wait.

The leader looked at her watch.

“Time is almost up.”

What was she supposed to do? Listen to Diana and put the lives of dozens of people in danger, or disobey her mentor who was far more experienced than her?

The answer quickly came to her when she finally came up with an idea.

“Excuse me.”

Diana shot her a look.

“Kara, what are you doing?” she asked in a whisper.

“Trust me.”

The leader of the terrorists didn’t move. Instead, she sent one of her acolytes.

“What do you want?”

“I- I might be able to contact Supergirl.”

The man raised his eyebrows in surprise. This time, the leader walked to her.

“What do you mean?”

Now that she was right in front of her, Kara noticed she had unusual eyes: she had never seen such color before. They almost looked like they were made of incandescent coal. She couldn’t be sure for the other terrorists, but this woman wasn’t human.

The leader suddenly pointed her gun at Kara’s head.

“Speak, or you’re going to be first.”

Everybody witnessing the scene stiffened and Lena let out a gasp. Kara noticed Diana was tensed too, but she knew she didn’t fear for her life. If the leader shot, everyone would know who Kara was.

She tried to look frightened even if she wasn’t.

“I- I know her. I’ve already ta- talked to her.”

“Call her. Now.”

“I can’t.”

The woman put her finger on the trigger.

“You better call her now, or I’m going to blow your head.”

“No, please no! She- She doesn’t want me to call her in front of people. I need to be alone.”

“Are you kidding me? You think I’m going to fall for it?”

“I swear it’s true. If one- one of you come with me somewhere else, I will call her, I swear.”

The leader seemed to be hesitant. She remained silent for a moment before finally turning her head to the man.

“Go with her. If she tries anything, kill her.”

He nodded and immediately grabbed Kara’s arm to put her on her feet.

“I can walk.” she said while pulling away.

He seemed surprised by her aplomb and her strength but didn’t lose time and led the way. Kara looked at Diana one last time to indicate that the situation was under control.

They walked to the bathroom and stopped in front of the door. The man pointed his gun at her.

“We’re alone, you can call her.”

Kara pretended to look for her cellphone and put her hand in her pocket.

“Hurry up.”

She feigned a jolt and froze.

“I knew you were lying. You’re gonna regret it.”

He stepped closer to her. He was about to grab her arm again, but as soon as he was within range, Kara gripped his collar and pulled him to her. She knocked him out with one single punch in the face. She held him and soundlessly put him down to the ground.

“I wasn’t exactly lying.” she said with a serious face.

 

* * *

 

Everybody in the gallery was anxiously waiting. Diana was the most worried of all. She knew Kara didn’t risk anything and she had easily understood what her plan was, but what if someone saw her and discovered the truth?

The terrorists’ leader looked at her watch once more.

“Well, it looks like our friend couldn’t contact Supergirl, or the so called hero was busy somewhere else. Maybe we should remind her that super speed isn’t always enough to save the day.”

She pointed her gun at Diana, who didn’t flinch, and fired. The Amazon barely had time to think that after all these years, her identity might be revealed now. The next thing she saw was a red cape.

As if out of nowhere, Supergirl had appeared and was standing in front of the terrorist. Her fist was clenched around the bullet.

“You think so?”

The leader didn’t have time to process what was going on when Supergirl threw at her the man she had sent with her and who was still unconscious. They both collapsed on the ground meters away.

“You came.”

Supergirl turned to Lena with a severe face.

“Sorry it took me so long.”

“Where is Miss Danvers? She said she would call you.”

“Don’t worry, I took her somewhere safe.”

She looked at Diana.

“You two should go. Things are about to get messy here.”

She realized how true it was when Diana’s eyes widened and she called her name to warn her. She recognized the sound of flames and didn’t turn around to know where it came from. Without a second thought, she wrapped the two brunettes in her cape and bent down to protect them.

Even when the flames dissipated, Supergirl kept her cape as an armor.

“Go! Now!”

Diana and Lena didn’t question her order. They immediately left and took as many people as they could with them.

Supergirl turned around to face her enemies. The five remaining terrorists were all standing side by side and she realized she had been true about them when she saw their glowing eyes: they were not human.

“You’re finally showing up.” said the leader.

She noticed they had let go of their weapons and quickly understood why when one of them shot pure heat at her through his eyes. She stepped to the side to dodge the shot, but ironically, she wasn’t fast enough and got hit in the shoulder. She hissed in pain and put her hand where the ray had reached her. She had rarely felt pain, but this time, it was real. The attack had been so powerful that her suit had been burned.

She looked up from her shoulder and immediately used her cold breath to freeze her opponents. It worked and soon, she had five statues in front of her. But it didn’t last long. The ice started to melt after only a few seconds and once their heads were free, the aliens used their heat vision all at the same time, ejecting her meters away. When she raised her head, they had all turned into living torches.

She got back on her feet in the split of a second, ready to fight, but she stopped when someone literally came through the door the terrorists had blocked earlier. She immediately recognized this person.

Wonder Woman rushed straight to her enemies and struck them with her shield. The collision was so violent that the five of them collide with a wall that crumbled down.

“Who are these people?” she asked Supergirl.

“I don’t know, I had never seen them before. But I once read something about aliens from a volcanic planet. They’re like salamanders.”

“I’m not sure this is an accurate comparison. Salamanders are amphibians, they mostly live in water.”

“I was thinking about salamanders from _Harry Potter_ actually.”

“What?”

“Forget about it. Basically, they can generate and control fire.”

They got interrupted by an explosion that blew them away. They both crashed into a giant glass construction exhibited for the vernissage before hitting the ground. The aliens were already coming toward them when they lifted their heads. They barely got time to get up and dodge the fireball one of them had just shot at them.

The aliens were back to torches mood and even while they were several meters away, Supergirl and Wonder Woman could feel heat irradiating from them.

“Definitely salamanders.” Kara said for herself.

She reached for her ear.

“Alex, do you hear me?”

_“We know what’s going on, we’re on our way.”_

“Good. We’ll hold them off and try to neutralize them.”

_“Be careful.”_

The exchange ended and the real fight started.

Wonder Woman and Supergirl quickly took down two aliens. The Amazon was now dealing with the leader and another one, while the Kryptonian was facing the last one.

Everything was going well, Wonder Woman had just knocked out an opponent and was about to get rid of the leader when she heard a terrible cracking. The air was suddenly filled with dust and rubble.

She covered her face until the dust fall down and when she could see again, she noticed the two remaining aliens were gone. So was Supergirl.

The first thing she saw was a massive hole in the ceiling. Then, she dropped her eyes and discovered the same hole in the floor, probably leading to the basement. She was about to run there, but someone suddenly came out of the opening. She recognized the silhouette in an instant: Astra.

After her aunt had abducted Alex, Kara had showed Diana her mother’s hologram, so that she would know what Astra looked like. This way, she would know who was their enemy and be prepared to face her.

Supergirl flew out of the basement and stopped in front of Astra.

“I should have known it was you.”

She clenched her fists and her eyes lighted up, but she stopped from using her heat vision when her aunt raised her hands.

“I’m only here to talk.”

Diana glared at Astra.

“Strange way to start a conversation.”

The General turned to her.

“Wonder Woman, isn’t it? I’m glad I finally get the opportunity to meet you.”

“Surrender now, or we will make you.”

“Who do you think you are? Some high authority allowed to dictate me my actions? Just because you have divine blood, it doesn’t make you a god.”

Astra didn’t wait for an answer and focused back on Kara.

“There are things that you need to know. You will realize my intentions are good when you hear the truth.”

“I already know the truth.”

“You know Alura’s truth.”

Kara frowned.

“What do you mean?”

“I’ll tell you everything you need to know, but I want privacy. It’s a matter that concerns our family only.” she said while shooting a quick look at Wonder Woman.

“She can hear what you have to say.”

There was a short silence and then Astra spoke again.

“Well. If you won’t ask her to leave us alone, I guess I’ll have to do it myself.”

With no warning, she caught Wonder Woman and exited the building the same way she had entered it. Supergirl followed her without a second thought.

It didn’t take Astra long to reach a dizzying height and when she did, she let go of her hostage. Kara was right behind her, ready to catch her friend, but to her surprise, Wonder Woman didn’t need her. She easily stopped her fall and stabilized herself in the air. She looked at her with wide eyes and barely managed to speak.

“You- You can fly!”

“As you can see.”

“I had no idea.”

“You have to keep some assets hidden to always be able to surprise your enemies.”

“I’m surprised indeed.”

The two superheroes looked at Astra.

”I guess I’ll have to wait for the right time to talk to you, my dear niece.”

“We’re not letting you go.”

“I’m afraid you don’t have a choice. Unless you want to risk innocent lives.”

Supergirl and Wonder Woman dropped their gaze to the ground when Astra looked down and saw the two aliens who were missing earlier were now attacking the DEO agents that had just arrived. They both forgot their enemy and flew to the rescue straightaway.

Alex put a fireproof shield in front of herself to stop the flames, but she winced when it started heating up. Kara arrived just in time and tackled the alien who was attacking her sister.

This time, the fight was short. It took them only a couple of minutes to take their enemies down.

Once they were all locked up within a fireproof truck, Alex joined Kara to talk in private.

“I had never seen such aliens before.”

“They are salamanders.”

Alex threw a puzzled look at her sister.

“You named them after creatures from _Harry Potter_?”

“Like you wouldn’t have. And I didn’t know their name, so I had to find something.”

“Maybe. But you’re definitely nerdier than me.”

“Only when it comes to _Harry Potter_.”

Alex didn’t object, but her smirk was speaking for itself.

“You should escort the trucks to the DEO. We’re not used to deal with this kind of aliens, I’d be reassured if you were there in case something happened, and you can assist the agents if they need help when they put them in custody.”

“No problem. What are we gonna do about the cops? They’ve probably had time to see the terrorists weren’t human before you arrived and locked down the area.”

“Don’t worry about that, I’ll take care of them. Go now. I told Hank the convoy would be here soon.”

Supergirl nodded and took off to fly above the DEO trucks that were driving off. Alex sighed and walked to the police officers who were waiting just beyond the lockdown’s limits.

She wasn’t wearing any insignia, there was no logo on her gear, and her bulletproof vest had no writing of any sort, as always when she was exposed to citizens’ sight during operations. She pulled out her agent card and pressed a button to transform it. She was ready to face anybody and lie like she always did.

A police officer walked toward her as soon as she saw her. She was short and had warm shiny eyes, but Alex could tell just by seeing her features that she was stubborn and wouldn’t be easy to deal with.

“What’s going on here? Why did you push us away?”

Alex raised her eyebrows. This woman was straightforward.

“Who the hell do you think you are?”

“Detective Maggie Sawyer, Paris PD, science division. We handle all cases involving aliens.”

The cop took out her badge and put it in front of her.

“I showed you mine, now show me yours.”

Alex narrowed her eyes. Maybe for once, it wouldn’t be as easy as usual.

She showed her fake badge with an impassive face.

“Alex Danvers, Secret Service. I’m sure you mean well, Detective, and I’m grateful that you were here so quickly when the attack happened. But this is now a federal crime scene and this case is in our hands.”

“I’m sure we can work together. My colleagues and I are experienced, we can help you.”

“No, thank you. You would contaminate my evidence.”

“I would contaminate it? Your lackey over there is bagging charred carpet and crispy limo into the same Ziploc.”

Alex’s face was still completely neutral and didn’t show the tiniest sign of irritation, but she was seething inside.

“I thought the Secret Service would pay closer attention at detail.”

The DEO agent sarcastically grinned.

“We have technology that makes your PD lab looks like an easy bacon.”

“A nice dumb local cop would never deduce that the assailants were not salamanders but… Infernians. This species has all the abilities these aliens had.”

“Thank you. We’ve arrested the suspects, we can handle the rest.”

“This area is within my jurisdiction.”

“Just like the airport is within your jurisdiction, and guess what? When someone tried to kill Lena Luthor, Supergirl handled it, not you.”

“I don’t have super speed, sorry. Maybe your revolutionary technology could grant me this ability though.”

“You certainly have a sense of humor.”

“That’s what most people say, but I’m not sure it’s a compliment coming from you.”

Alex’s smile disappeared. She took a step closer to the detective and crossed her arms. Her expression was very serious this time.

“Your jurisdiction ends where I say it does.”

The game was over. Alex had had enough of that silly bickering and Detective Sawyer seemed to understand it. She looked at her with a playful smile and sighed.

“See you around, Danvers.”

She turned over and walked away. Alex did the same.

She was often irritating after she had dealt with police officers, but never that much. She was hoping she would never face this woman again, whether it was for professional or personal reasons.

She stared at the man who was collecting evidence and walked toward him.

“Make sure you’re bagging that up properly.”

The man glanced at her in confusion, but she walked away before he got the opportunity to ask why she was so angry.

 

* * *

 

The convoy had just arrived at the DEO facility and the agents were about to open the truck’s doors. Hank stood on the front line and spoke up.

“Have your shields ready. If they attack, Supergirl will freeze them. It won’t last long, but it should be enough for us to sedate them. Ready?”

Supergirl nodded and all the agents raised their shields. The ones who were standing by the truck grabbed the knobs and on the count of three, they opened the doors.

Everybody suddenly stiffened, ready to face furious aliens, but nothing happened. More surprising, there wasn’t anybody. Where the suspects were when the convoy had left the city center, there were now four piles of ashes. They all stared at those in surprise.

Supergirl took a step forward with a frown on her face.

“Wh- What happened?”

Hank joined her and stood by her side with his hands on his hips.

“It would appear that they spontaneously combusted. What you call salamanders are in fact Infernians. They are capable of such prowess among other skills.”

They heard a swish and Wonder Woman came out of nowhere.

“I looked for Astra and the two alien runaways, but they are nowhere to be found.”

“Please, tell me you have at least a clue on where they could have gone.” said the Director.

“I’m afraid I don’t.”

“Damn it!”

Hank walked away in anger and Supergirl sighed. She activated her earpiece.

“Alex?”

_“What’s up? Have you put the aliens in custody yet?”_

“I’m calling about them. No need to hurry on your way back: there’s no one to put in custody.”

_“What?! What happened?”_

“I’ll explain when you’re here. For now, I have to deal with an angry Hank.”

_“Good luck. I’ll be here soon.”_

“Okay, see you.”

 

* * *

 

Wonder Woman was trustworthy, but Hank sent agents to check the crime scene again anyway. They didn’t find anything, obviously.

There was no sign of Astra or her associates anywhere.

The director sent home all the agents who weren’t working on a night shift and had been exceptionally called for the operation, including Alex and Supergirl. The two sisters knew he, on the other hand, would probably stay up all night to try and find something about Astra, but they didn’t object and just followed his orders.

They were leaving the facility when Wonder Woman stopped Kara, causing the two sisters to turn around.

“I didn’t know you were still here.” said the youngest Danvers.

“I was waiting for you.”

“Really?”

“I was wondering if you would want to come to my place so that we could talk about what happened earlier.”

Alex frowned and threw an intrigued look at her sister.

“Oh, you wanna talk about it tonight?”

“I promised we would talk, so why not now?”

“Oh… Okay, no problem. I’ll just stop by my place. I need a shower.” she said with a nervous laugh.

“No problem. You have my address, you can come whenever it suits you.”

“Great! I’ll see you later then.”

Diana offered a slight smile at both of them and left.

“So you’re gonna hang out with Wonder Woman, uh?”

“You could say that.” Kara exhaled with a wide smile.

“That’s cool.”

Kara immediately noticed her sister’s forced smile and unusual behavior.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. Why are you asking me this?”

“No, I can see something’s wrong.” She looked at her sister more attentively. “Are you jealous?”

“Jealous?” Alex scoffed. “Don’t be ridiculous.”

Suddenly, she was back to normal, but Kara wasn’t sure if she was sincere or if she was just pretending. Although she had doubts, she didn’t insist.

“Okay, I’ll see you tomorrow for sisters’ night.”

“Sure.” Alex stepped closer to her and briefly hugged her. “Good night.”

“Good night.”

They parted and Kara left.

 

* * *

 

When Kara arrived at Diana’s apartment, she was way more anxious than she should have been. It was just a casual conversation about a fight – it wasn’t even enough to be called a fight – she had had with a friend, there was no reason to be nervous. And yet, she was.

She was wringing her hands, her palms were sweaty, and she was pacing in the hallway. She would have to knock sooner or later, she knew it, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it.

She jumped when the door opened and Diana appeared in the opening.

“You know you have to knock so that people know you’re here, right? Not everybody has my hearing.”

Kara stared at her with a blank expression.

“You have been there for a while, so I thought I would come to you. Come in.”

The Kryptonian stepped forward hesitantly and got through the door. Diana watched her with an amused smile: she looked like a fearful animal discovering a new place.

“You have a nice apartment.”

“Thank you.” Diana passed her and walked to the couch. “Come on. We can sit here and I’ll bring something to eat and drink.”

Kara followed her, but she stopped by the couch and didn’t move.

“You’re sure you want to stand here? It would be more comfortable if you-“

Diana got interrupted and never finished her sentence.

Kara had rehearsed her speech on her way back to her apartment, then while she was showering and dressing – two things she had done at human speed to delay the fatal moment, which was very unusual for her – and again on her way to Diana’s place. But it had been useless, and she knew it.

As soon as she opened her mouth, the rambling started.

“I see where you were coming from when you decided not to tell me you were going to the vernissage mainly because Lena Luthor would be there, but I still think you should have let me know. I deserved to know the truth, you shouldn’t have kept that from me. I’ve always admired you and looked up to you, and now that I know you personally, I really appreciate you. But that doesn’t mean you can take advantage of that. I get that you’ve operated alone for most of your life as a superhero, but if we want to work together, I need to be sure I can trust you. And people need to stop assuming Lena is evil just because her last name is Luthor! It’s degrading and mean!”

She realized right after saying that last word how childish it sounded and blushed.

“It’s- It’s wrong, okay?” She said to try and compose herself. “We are better than this. _You_ are better than this.”

She wanted to look away, but she battled with herself not to.

“Alex, my own sister, lied to me for years. I know she did it to protect me, but still. And now, I’ve discovered that my mother might have lied to me too. Or maybe Astra is the one lying? I don’t know. I’m lost, I don’t know who I’m supposed to believe, and that’s just too much sometimes. I’m not a child. I can make my own decisions and I deserve the truth. I need to be sure I can trust my friends and family. I need to be sure I can trust you. That’s it.”

After this long messy rambling, she fell silent.

Diana remained still and speechless. She stared at her with a neutral expression. Suddenly, Kara feared she would yell at her and throw her out. What if she no longer wanted to be her mentor?

She was about to ramble again, but Diana raised her hand to make her hush.

“I hear you and I am sorry. I apologize for lying to you.”

Kara had opened her mouth and she was so stunned when she heard these words that she didn’t fully close it. She stared at Diana with wide eyes and didn’t find anything to say. Thankfully, her friend kept speaking.

“You are right, I shouldn’t have lied to you. I knew what your reaction would be, and instead of talking about it with you, I chose the easy way. It was a mistake. Lying, either actively or by omission, does no good.” She paused for a brief moment. “Will you forgive me?”

Kara was still staring at Diana, speechless. The only thing that brought her back to reality was this very formal question. She tended to forget that even if her friend had been living among humans for almost a century, thousands of years spent with the Amazons had made her deeply serious and ceremonious about things that were treated as trivialities in the modern world, hence this phrasing.

“Yes, of course. I forgive you.”

“Thank you.” Diana said with a solemn nod.

They both fell silent. The atmosphere was heavy now that they were no longer speaking. Diana didn’t seem to be ill-at-ease, but it wasn’t long before Kara was.

“So…” She started awkwardly while fumbling with her glasses. “You can fly, uh?”

“I can.”

Kara thought her friend would go further, but she didn’t.

“I don’t understand. Why didn’t you catch the plane that day?”

“I was ready to help you at any moment.” Diana said with a shrug. “I was about to take action, but I saw you were handling it, so I stood down.”

“B- But it was my very first rescue!” Kara squeaked in a high-pitched voice. “And you knew that! Anything could have happened!”

“But nothing happened and I wouldn’t have done better than you. Plus, like I said, I was ready to help you if necessary.”

Kara couldn’t believe that Wonder Woman herself had thought she was able of such feat and hadn’t do anything when really, she should have.

“I knew you would succeed. And you did.”

Diana’s smile was sincere and a bit wider than usual.

“People start to believe in you, Kara. Now, you need to believe in yourself.”

She nodded in agreement, even if she wasn’t convinced. However, the next words Diana said caught her off guard.

“For my part, I’ve always believed in you.”

She stared at the Amazon in awe, unable to say anything, not even to thank her for this compliment. If Diana noticed her shock – and she probably did – she didn’t comment on it.

“Well, I’m sorry to push you out after inviting you, but I have to revise some details for the arrival of a new piece at the museum tomorrow.”

“Oh! Of course, no problem. I’ll be out.”

“I’m sorry.”

“No, don’t apologize, that’s fine.” Kara said while walking toward the door. “I have to check Miss Grant’s schedule for tomorrow anyway.”

“None of us is done with this very busy evening then.”

“None of us, indeed.” Kara confirmed before stopping at the door and turning around to face her friend. “I’m glad that we got this conversation. Thank you for being so understanding.”

“Of course. We talked it through and that’s for the best.”

“Yeah.”

“You know you can talk to me anytime, right? About anything.”

“Thank you. I’ll make sure to remember that.”

Diana opened the door for her and she walked through it. She thought the conversation was over and she was about to say goodbye, but Diana spoke again.

“As for Lena Luthor…”

Kara looked at her more attentively.

“I can’t say I won’t remain cautious, because I’ve learned to be. But I think you’re mostly right about her. I did not feel any bad vibes and not to brag, but most of the time, I’m a pretty good judge of character.”

“I’m sure you are.” Kara said with a nod and a smile. “I’m glad that you believe me. James and Winn keep saying she must be dangerous because she’s a Luthor and honestly, I’m not really sure Alex is convinced she’s a good person.”

“Give them some time. I’m sure they will eventually see her like you do.”

“I hope so.”

“In the meantime, keep believing in her. That’s what you do best, and I shouldn’t have made you feel like it was a bad thing.”

A wide smile brightened up Kara’s face.

“Good night.”

“Good night, Kara.”

They shared one last smile and Diana closed the door. She heard her friend’s footsteps in the hallway and when the elevator’s doors closed, she let out a deep sigh.

She now realized that in her attempts to protect Kara, she might have been unintentionally shutting down the best part of her: her optimism.

Like Kara, she had been full of hope and good intentions. When she had arrived in the humans’ world, she was convinced there was good in everybody, just like her mentee was, and that humankind just needed to be freed from Ares’ influence. But she had quickly learned that things weren’t that simple.

When she had seen what humans were capable of, during the First World War and then later through the years, when she had witnessed the horrible things they could do to their peers, she had understood that some people were just bad.

On the one hand, she truly hoped that Kara would never lose her optimism. But on the other hand, she was terrified that one day, she might know the disappointment she had known herself. Or worse, that this belief that there was good in everyone would be her loss.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath to try and calm down. For now, all she could do was train her and make sure she would be ready to face anything and anyone.

**Author's Note:**

> You can find me on tumblr at louloutche, I post about gay stuff and things no one cares about.


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